Olympiacos overpower Aris in Piraeus
SUPER LEAGUE - MATCHDAY 19
Olympiacos returned to the top of the Super League on Sunday after securing a 4-2 victory over Aris in an entertaining North vs. South derby clash at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus.
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Two quick-fire goals in as many first-half minutes from Guilherme and Youssef E-Arabi set Olympiacos on their way, before Aris’ Lindsay Rose replied with a header to reduce the deficit seven minutes after the half-hour mark.
Aris’ attacking style though attractive, left them exposed at the back and Olympiaocs punished them twice in the second half to move 4-1 ahead courtesy of goals from Omar Elabdellaoui and Mathieu Valbuena.
The visitors again reduced the deficit seven minutes from time through Frenchman Nicolas Diguiny - after Rose had had a second goal chalked off for offside after a VAR review - and the match ended 4-2 to Pedro Martins’ hosts.
The result is a huge boost for Olympiacos’ title ambitions, as this was seen as a tricky fixture which the Thrylos have negotiated successfully and they move one point ahead of PAOK, who won 3-1 against Asteras Tripolis earlier in the evening.
THE MATCH
Olympiacos came into his Matchday 19 contest undefeated after eighteen matches, and the future was and is looking rosy for Martins’ side considering the return of several key players as of late including Kostas Fortounis, Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, and Guilherme.
Aris, who defeated PAOK a fortnight ago, meanwhile headed into this match with a minor injury crisis on their hands. Despite that, Michael Oenning’s team were hoping for another upset and there was an air of confidence about his team as they arrived at the stadium.
And Aris, who are one of the league’s more attacking sides, went on the offensive early on and they almost took a shock lead after 13 minutes when Daniel Larsson hit the woodwork after being teed up by former Thrylos striker Brown Ideye.
The Thessaloniki side were moving the ball around nicely, but their advanced play up the pitch was leaving gaps in behind, and Olympiacos exploited this to take the lead on 22 minutes. Ruben Semedo headed goalwards from a corner which was blocked, but Guilherme was on hand to score from close-range.
Then just two minutes later, it was 2-0. Mady Camara robbed Aris captain Giorgos Delizisis, and he released Giorgos Masouras. The Greek international sent over an inviting cross which El-Arabi bundled home at the second attempt.
Aris looked shell-shocked after those setbacks, but to their credit, the men from Thessaloniki did not panic and came back at Olympiacos in search of a goal. And it duly came on 37 minutes. Fran Velez flicked on a cross and Rose arrived perfectly at the back post to head home past a helpless Jose Sa in the Olympiacos goal.
Just when it seemed an Aris comeback was on the cards, however, Valbuena intervened, sending an inch-perfect pass into the path of Omar, and the Norwegian full-back turned inside before impressively dispatching an unstoppable shot past Fabian Ehmann.
The teams went into the half-time interval at 3-1, and it seemed that the scoring was not finished there. And so it proved, with Olympiacos moving 4-1 ahead from the penalty spot after Velez was correctly penalised for a foul on Valbuena.
The veteran French midfielder dusted himself down and slotted home the spot-kick, leaving Aris with a tough task to try and bring the game level.
The visitors tried the best to rise to that challenge however, and they had the ball in the net after 72 minutes with Rose again the scorer from close-range following a goalmouth scramble, but the goal was correctly ruled out for offside after a VAR review.
Despite that disappointment, Aris kept plugging away and they were rewarded with a well worked goal in the 83rd minute. A slick passing move ended with substitute Diguiny rifling in a low diagonal shot past Sa.
There was no tense finale, however, as Olympiacos easily held on to claim another vital three-point haul in the club’s quest to end a two-season trophy drought.
STARTING LINEUPS
Olympiacos: 1 Sa (Gk), 21 Tsimikas, 24 Ba, 3 Semedo, 14 Elabdellaoui, 5 Bouhalakis, 4 Camara, 28 Valbuena, 8 Guilherme, 19 Masouras, 11 El-Arabi
Aris: 1 Ehmann (Gk), 69 Korhut, 44 Velez, 5 Delizisis, 92 Rose, 98 Ba, 26 Matilla, 24 Mancini, 10 Larsson, 28 Fetfatzidis, 11 Ideye
