It was Olympiakos against OFI at Karaiskaki earlier this evening. We faced OFI in the semi-finals of the cup and would need to dispatch them in a two legged fixture in order to advance to the final. As the league was more or less already won, this seemed to be our focus at the minute and offered a real chance to get a double this season, hence the strong lineup.
First Half
We started attacking straight from the start of the game and made our first real chance on the Tsatsoi goalmouth in the seventh minute with an Abdoun cross and Mirallas flick which just went wide of the net. Apart from this one chance though we didn't create the chances early on in the game and made some poor final passes in the box. Djebbour came painstakingly close in the 16th minute with a rebound attempt but found the ball smothered by the keeper before he got the final touch. It must be said though that the game was all one-way traffic at this stage and apart from some very desperate and frantic defending, OFI had done nothing.
The pressure continued throughout the first half but the problem of misplaced passes was holding us back. However our relentless pressure was paying off with some free kicks in great positions and the threat of a goal was always present. We continued to have some minor chances on goal and our continuing pressure was at least getting our team into the position to make chances on goal. We did need to improve though if we were going to win this game.
Second Half
We started off displaying the same amount of pressure as we had before the game but we also had the same lack of accuracy and finish too. We were by far the better team in the game but we just couldn't manage to get the goal that we were after. The lack of definite progress was very frustrating to see and it raised the real possibility of the game ending goalless - a poor situation for us. Djebbour and Fetfatzidis had their chances but again nothing...
The last portion of the game saw us continue to dominate possession and play around the Tsatsoi box but with the same lack of success as earlier. We had by now made all of our available substitutions and were playing as aggressively as possible. We did however get the all important goal after a cross into the box allowed Mellberg to get a header on the ball and into the net. The game finished after a further ten minutes of play and with the finish, we had taken a vital lead into the return leg.
Olympiakos 1-0 OFI
81' Mellberg
Olympiakos : Carroll, Torosidis, Mellberg, Marcano, Holebas, Maniatis (73' Fejsa), Orbaiz, Fuster (46' Fetfatzidis), Mirallas, Abdoun (62' Diogo), Djebbour
First Half
We started attacking straight from the start of the game and made our first real chance on the Tsatsoi goalmouth in the seventh minute with an Abdoun cross and Mirallas flick which just went wide of the net. Apart from this one chance though we didn't create the chances early on in the game and made some poor final passes in the box. Djebbour came painstakingly close in the 16th minute with a rebound attempt but found the ball smothered by the keeper before he got the final touch. It must be said though that the game was all one-way traffic at this stage and apart from some very desperate and frantic defending, OFI had done nothing.
The pressure continued throughout the first half but the problem of misplaced passes was holding us back. However our relentless pressure was paying off with some free kicks in great positions and the threat of a goal was always present. We continued to have some minor chances on goal and our continuing pressure was at least getting our team into the position to make chances on goal. We did need to improve though if we were going to win this game.
Second Half
We started off displaying the same amount of pressure as we had before the game but we also had the same lack of accuracy and finish too. We were by far the better team in the game but we just couldn't manage to get the goal that we were after. The lack of definite progress was very frustrating to see and it raised the real possibility of the game ending goalless - a poor situation for us. Djebbour and Fetfatzidis had their chances but again nothing...
The last portion of the game saw us continue to dominate possession and play around the Tsatsoi box but with the same lack of success as earlier. We had by now made all of our available substitutions and were playing as aggressively as possible. We did however get the all important goal after a cross into the box allowed Mellberg to get a header on the ball and into the net. The game finished after a further ten minutes of play and with the finish, we had taken a vital lead into the return leg.
Olympiakos 1-0 OFI
81' Mellberg
Olympiakos : Carroll, Torosidis, Mellberg, Marcano, Holebas, Maniatis (73' Fejsa), Orbaiz, Fuster (46' Fetfatzidis), Mirallas, Abdoun (62' Diogo), Djebbour
03:56
00:46
01:25
03:56
01:03
03:56
03:44
03:26
02:58
03:09