Olympiacos steamroll pitiful Panionios
SUPER LEAGUE - MATCHDAY 24
Olympiacos made light work of Super League basement club Panionios at the Georgios Karaiskakis stadium in Piraeus, demolishing the Nea Smyrni club 4-0 in a completely one-sided Matchday 24 encounter.
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In Saturday evening’s ‘first against worst’ clash, the home side went goal crazy in the first half, taking advantage of some incredibly poor defending by Panionios, who simply did not show up in the opening 45 minutes.
The Thrylos were 3-0 ahead inside the first 10 minutes thanks to goals from Ahmed Hassan, Youssef El-Arabi and Kostas Fortounis. Youssef then added a fourth on 24 minutes following a dreadfully shot backpass from Panionios defender Christos Retsos.
The result means Olympiacos remain top of the table, two points ahead of second-placed PAOK, who they meet next weekend at the Toumba in what is expected to be a mouth-watering showdown between this season’s two Super League heavyweights.
THE MATCH
Coming into this match with one eye on next Thursday’s Europa League Round of 32 clash with Arsenal in Piraeus, Olympiacos were looking to extend their unbeaten record and maintain on the perch at the top.
They would have expected little threat from a Panionios side who are bound for the Super League 2 following an absolutely miserable campaign.
And so it proved right from the kick-off, as the home side combined an electric start with some comical defending from the visitors side that effectively ended the game as a contest by the 10th minute.
French midfielder Mathieu Valbuena, who has so often been a key player for Olympiacos this season, picked out Hassan with a superb pass for the first goal after four minutes, with the striker bringing the ball under control impressively before firing past Matic Kotnik in the Panionios goal.
While there was nothing that the visitors could do about the first goal, the next one just two minutes later was down to a tragic gaffe from Kotnik, who fumbled the ball from Fortounis’ cross-shot and El-Arabi was on hand to apply a simple finish.
Fortounis then got on the scoresheet in stylish fashion, although the Panionios defenders did not cover themselves in glory as the Greek international skipped passed them with a minimum of fuss before scoring with an emphatic shot.
Panionios managed to bounce back off the ropes for the next 10 minutes or so, but then all that effort was laid to waste by Retsos’ poor backpass which was meant for Kotnik, but it instead turned out to be a fabulous assist for El-Arabi, who touched the ball around the hapless goalkeeper before ramming it into the unguarded net.
The second half was a complete anti-climax compared to the opening 45 minutes, with Olympiacos content to sit back on their lead and allow Panionios more of the ball. Although they did threaten intermittently, Panionios never looked liked they might get a consolation goal.
Instead, it was the home side who went closest, with Andreas Bouchalakis having a shot saved well by Kotnik in the 59th minute.
The closing stages saw the game played at an almost pedestrian pace as Olympiacos looked to conserve their resources ahead of the visit of Arsenal to Athens on Thursday, February 20 for the first leg of their Round of 32 tie.
STARTING LINEUPS
Olympiacos: 1 Sa (Gk), 76 Gaspar, 66 Cisse, 24 Ba, 97 Randelovic, 28 Valbuena, 5 Bouchalakis, 4 Camara, 7 Fortounis, 11 El-Arabi, 99 Hassan
Panionios: 12 Kotnik (Gk), 3 Saramantas, 14 Stavropoulos, 22 Papageorgiou, 18 Rentzas, 40 Retsos, 7 Korbos, 28 Grivas, 10 Arabuli, 23 Tsiloulis, 11 Camara
HIGHLIGHTS
