Matchday 1 of our champions league campaign saw us face Schalke in the Karaiskaki stadium. The atmosphere was electric as we faced off against the Germans and when the teams came onto the pitch the coreos were displayed over both ends and we got ready to meet our destiny in the group.

After a nervy few minutes we made our first chances on goal with a chipped shot from Machado, cleared from the line and a follow up into the side of the net. After these opening shots we slipped back and kept the ball in possession. Schalke came forward on a couple of occasions but without any real success and we closed them down easily enough.

Further attempts on goal included a free kick from Holebas and a header from Djebbour which went the wrong side of goal. The Germans had their own chances with the ball but apart from possessing the ball, there was little in the way of chances from them. When it came to the defence we were still holding our own and restricting the Schalke chances on goal.

The very cagey style of play continued from both sides as the game progressed towards the halftime break with both sides struggling to get chances on goal. Schalke did manage to get the ball into the net but only by infringing Megyeri and their effort was instantly ruled out by the referees. Unfortunately it was the Germans who managed to score first when Howedes headed into the net following a corner and so we ended the half trailing in the scoreline.

Following the restart we had real trouble getting the ball out of our half and almost conceded again in the 52nd minute when Megyeri spilled a shot on the line. Luckily the Schalke player going for the follow up scooped the ball over, sparing our blushes. We eventually got ourselves sorted and get forward before finally Abdoun had his chance scraped off the line. Abdoun was not to be denied however and managed to get the ball into the net a minute later to equalise the scoreline.

Immediately after the game was restarted Schalke scored again after our defence was found lacking and straight afterwards they were gifted a penalty when Manolas tripped one of their players in the box. Luckily they shot the penalty against the post and we escaped for the minute. It wasn't all one way traffic and we got forward again allowing Ibagasa to make a shot on goal.

Our final two changes of the match gave us more of an attacking flair but although we were getting further up the pitch we were having trouble in creating chances on goal. We were also suffering from some of the challenges coming our way and Holebas in particular had to leave the field for a while to recover from some of the tackles.

As the game came to a close we couldn't manage to make any effective headway up the pitch and were being forced onto the defensive too often to make any decent chances on goal. Djebbour did have a final solo run on goal from the corner flag but this was the final act of the game. We ended up losing the match and the crowd sounded its annoyance as the game ended.

Olympiakos 1-2 Schalke
41' Howedes
58' Abdoun
59' Huntelaar

Olympiakos : Megyeri, Torosidis, Contreras, Manolas, Holebas, Maniatis, Modesto (68' Greco), Machado, Abdoun (68' Mitroglou), Fuster (56' Ibagasa), Djebbour