Olympiacos on a Swiss roll into Europa League playoffs
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - 3RD QUALIFYING ROUND (LEG 2)
| Luzern | 1 - 3 | Olympiacos |
|---|---|---|
| Demasaj 82' |
Agg. 1-7 |
Christodoulopoulos 23',59' Guerrero 68' |
Olympiacos are just one step away from the Europa League group stages after thumping FC Luzern 3-1 on Thursday to rack up an impressive 7-1 aggregate victory over the Swiss side in their 3rd qualifying round tie.
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Another double strike from Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, who also notched two in the first leg win last week, and a third goal from Miguel Angel Guerrero sealed another comfortable victory for Pedro Martin’s side. Shkelqim Demhasaj added a late consolation for the hosts.
The reward for the Piraeus giants is a playoff tie agains the winner of the Istanbul Basaksehir-Burnley clash, where the Greek side would surely be favorites to go through given their European pedigree compared to those teams.
Boasting a commanding 4-0 lead from the first leg at the Georgios Karaiskakis, Olympiacos once again gave an impressive display full of enterprising play against their Swiss opponents, who just did not have the quality to match the visitors.
As they did in Piraeus, Olympiacos were on the front foot from the first whistle, and after a few early half chances, Lazaros worked his magic again, heading in brilliantly from a precise Omar Elabdellaoui cross.
Guerrero and Daniel Podence had chances to make it 2-0 before half-time, but the way Olympiacos were playing it only seemed a matter of time before the second goal would come.
The second half did little to stem the flow of Olympiacos attacks, and the visitors finally doubled their advantage a minute before the hour mark, with that man Lazaros once again on target.
The former AEK man was in the right place to ram the ball home following Miranda’s header after Jagoš Vuković had hit the woodwork with a shot.
Luzern looked clearly demoralized by that second goal and there was little to suggest they might find a way back into the match.This was emphasized by a third Olympiacos goal which came in the 68th minute.
Substitute Giannis Fetfatzidis, who had only came on the field to replace captain Kostas Fortounis five minutes earlier, released Daniel Podence with a great pass. The Portuguese winger shot was saved by home keeper Mirko Salvi. But Guerrero was on hand to net from the rebound.
Olympiacos more or less shut up shop and stepped off the gas at that point, and a lapse in concentration saw them concede what proved to be simply a consolation goal for the home side with eight minutes left, substitute Demhasaj the man on target.
