Olympiacos fell on the wall of the heroic Apollo!

His “Bam” Apollo against Olympic in Rizoupoli (0-0)! The “Light Brigade” of. Countless problems led the Piraeus to a gel in their first game for 2022 and their first loss after ten championship matches.

Chatterboxes and ineffective the “red and whites” (who also played with significant absences), who fell on the heroic hosts, but also on their excellent goalkeeper tonight, Davino Verhulst. As a result, they bring their third 0-0 in the season, watching her AEK to reduce the difference to 9 points from the top.

Reappearance after 2,821 days in red and white for him Costa Manolas, who came in as a substitute in the 85th minute.

That’s how they started

Without a stopper in the starting lineup, with five players on the bench and 15 absent, Apollon lined up. In a system 4-4-2 (typically), Verhulst was under the beams, Dentakis, Baxevanidis, Vitlis and Jakimovski in defense. Fation, Kragiopoulos, Van La Para, Gianniotas the quartet in the midfield, while Ioannidis and Signievic were in front.

With several absences and Olympiacos. Lala, Papastathopoulos, Agibu Kamara, Cisse and Lopez were out (for various reasons) from the main ones. His favorite 4-2-3-1 Martins chose. Vatslik is firmly in the goal, while Karbovnik, Papadopoulos, Ba and Reabchuk are in defense. Embila, Bouchalakis and N. Kamara in the center. Masouras, Brousai were the “wings” of El Arabi.

The match

The approach is quite predictable of the two teams for the game. Their distance is long anyway, while with the conditions under which they went to the match, Apollo had an even more passive role than expected. In order to fill its gaps. Olympiakos had the first say from the beginning, with the possession of the ball being overwhelmingly in its favor. He played the opponent for a long time like a cat with a mouse, but he was talkative as well as weightless in the final effort.

The hosts were fortified back, without a capsule to come out in front, having, of course, relief. The first good moment of Piraeus was very big, after M. Kamara sent the ball on Verhulst in contact effort.

The next one large phase was made by the guests in 32 ‘, with Bouchalakis not being able to beat the Belgian goalkeeper at first, while then his defenders said “no” “Light Brigade”. The possession of the ball reached 74% for Martins’s team, while gradually Apollon started to come out timidly and forward, finding some opportunities against the last minutes.

THE Pedro Martins wanted to make his team more aggressive in the second half and threw Tikinios on the field instead of M. Kamaras, flanking with the Brazilian El Arabi. In order to take advantage of the absence of a classic stopper from the rear guard of Apollo.

The entrance of the Brazilian filled the opponent’s area more, but it did not prove to be as beneficial as the Portuguese coach would have hoped. Although he gave more freedom to El Arabi, in several cases he “stuck” the attack of the guests, while he was not as dangerous as he should have been. Beyond the header in the 61st minute, which was repulsed by the Belgian goalkeeper.

The fact that the match did not go as the “red and whites” wanted is also evident from the fact that the Valbouena at 57 ‘. Apollon began to believe more over time and at the same time the hypnotized Olympiacos gradually felt pressure.

Of course, Piraeus had the opportunity to take the game, making it simple. Such a thing did not happen in 73 ‘, when o El Arabi he had huge opportunity to pull the snake out of the hole again, sending the ball into the net in a precision ball by Valbouena. Losing an opportunity, which he would have scored 10 more times if he had sat down. Shortly afterwards, the hosts asked for a penalty in Gianniota’s claim with Ba, but the replay shows that the stopper of Olympiacos takes the ball, in a phase which seemed debatable in a normal flow.

In the final straight, Apollo fatally turned even further back, holding with his fingernails and teeth the result, which he finally got. After the entrance of Lover in 85 ‘he braked Olympiakos more than he gave him things, while that of Manolas who could offer in a static phase, did not. Because only in one case did he give the specific possibility.

Watch the film of the match through the Match Center of sport-fm.gr.

MVP: Obviously Verhulst, who made his top appearance in Greece and led Olympiakos to a gel. He was not only the best of the hosts, he was the face of the match.

Whistle: The performance of Tzovaras and his team did not determine the result. That does not mean it was flawless. The replay for the penalty that Apollon requested in the marking of Ba in Gianniotas does not justify the player of the home team, since the stopper of the “red and whites” finds a ball. More controversial is the phase in 34 ‘in the shot of Fation and the projection of Masoura. In general, however, he whistled a lot and did not let a game take place, he gave unnecessary fouls, which he could and should have avoided.

Apollon Smyrnis (L. Velentzas): Verhulst – Dentakis, Giakimovski, Baxevanidis, Vitlis – Kragiopoulos, Fation, Gianniotas (80 ‘Giannaki), Van La Para (90’ + 5 ‘Daounda) – Ioannidis (87’ Doumas), Signevic.

On the bench were left: Kyritsis, Moustakas.

Olympiacos (P. Martins): Vatslik – Karbovnik (85 ‘Lovera), Ba, Papadopoulos (85’ Manolas), Reabciuk – Embila, Bouhalakis (90 ‘+ 2’ Sourlis) -, Mandi Kamara (46 ‘Tikinio), Masouras (57’ Valbouena) El Arabi.

On the bench were left: Christinson, A. Ba, Nikolic, Kitsos

Referee: Tzovaras (Fthiotida)

Assistants: Nidriotis (Athens), Kolliakos (Athens)

4th: Maloutas (Imathia)

WHERE: Koumbarakis (Cyclades), Demitriadis (Macedonia)