Olympiacos unlocked Asteras with Fortune!

Olympic with shining Fortune (and) in Tripoli! The mediocre “red and white” struggled against Asteras, but they overcame it with their leader giving them the victory (0-2).

Martinez’s side were virtually harmless for a half, but the entrance of the 31-year-old ace in part b he changed the facts. After, he scored the two goals of the match (69′, 90’+6′), while lifting the Piraeus team with his presence.

The hosts they limited the visitors for a long time, while they could have gotten a positive result, wasting a great opportunity with Kaltsa in the 86th minute. Thus, the Piraeus, who came to the championship from the heavy 2-4 by PAOK, will go calmly to the break of the championship.

In the coach’s mind

With 4-3-3 (instead of the 4-2-3-1 he usually chooses) Milan Rastavac lined up Asteras. Papadopoulos was in goal, Kastanio and Picsou were the stoppers, with Garthia and Houchumi at the ends of the defense. Alagbe, Goss and Sourlis formed the midfield trio. Kaltsas and Cresby were in the “wings”, with Miritelos moving at the top of the attack.

Bringing it back 4-2-3-1 and freshening up the eleven, Diego Martinez lined up for Olympiakos. Paschalakis was under the posts, with Retso having Doe at his side as Porosso is injured and Rodiney-Ortega are at the ends of the defence. Ese and Alexandropoulos were the two midfielders, with Biel and Solbakken in the “wings” and Scarpa in the role of ten. El Kaabi was selected for the forward line.

The match

The setting in the match was no surprise, with Olympic to have the ball at his feet, the initiative of the movements and Asteras waiting for him, with the intention of stealing balls to “hit” in the opposition. However, the first really good moment (and the best of the first half) belonged to the hosts, with Sourlis crossing from the right and Miritelos a dangerous header, which sent the ball just wide of Paschalakis’ right post.

In the next minute, Mr Olympic it was he who threatened, with Scarpa catching a shot on the move – after a change of play from Biel – from a difficult angle, with the ball bouncing and ending up in the arms of Papadopoulos. The Arkades managed to limit the Piraeus in the first half, with the guests not having a vertical game, without Kamaras (suspended) and Fortounis (not a starter) in their composition, while they did not create from the edges either. After Solbakken, who was missing again, had not entered the equation, while Biel converged in the center to create, while El Kaabi reminded that it is deformed. This was also seen from the 4-a-4 in the 26th minute -regardless of whether it was offside-, where he made a very bad finish, while he had the space and time to act.

With the exception of this particular –as an unborn phase– and the case at 45’+2′, when Rodinei was also sidelined, but there was no teammate to take advantage of his turn, Olympiacos did not press forward with claims in the area. In Ese’s shot in the 30th minute, Papadopoulos was in control, while shortly after Alexandropoulos could not worry the Greek goalkeeper, as he missed a lot.

Different face presented by Olympiacos from the first minutes in the second half. He brought more intensity to the game, combined better on the pitch, while reaching the opposing area with much greater ease. In the 54th minute, Piraeus found space, with Biel catching a shot from the edge of the area, which was blocked by Papadopoulos. In the entire previous period, no player of theirs had found so much space.

The “red and white” they had a game from the edges now with the entry of Podense and that’s how they threatened in the 59th minute, with the Portuguese crossing and Scarpa missing by catching a shot at once. As time went on, Olympiacos started to leave gaps behind and Asteras almost punished them in the 67th minute, with Crespi in a shooting position and catching a shot from Paschalakis, showing excellent reflexes.

Olympiacos managed to unlock the opposing defense with… key Kostas Fortounis, who came on in the 63′ and opened the scoring in the 69′. The 31-year-old ace converged, caught a drift shot that was countered, with the ball changing course and confusing Papadopoulos.

The Piraeus they were in control of the match for the most part, but they gradually started to decline and especially from the 80′ onwards, showing that they lacked concentration, as they made a bunch of mistakes, which Asteras almost capitalized on. In the 85th minute, Fortounis threatened with a lob and in the next minute, Arkades tied the score at 1-1 with Kaltsa making a header from an excellent position, sending the ball narrowly wide.

In the last minutes, Asteras played everything for everything, with Papadopoulos taking a risk by going up twice in the opponent’s area. The second time he paid for it, with Jovetic feeding Fortunis who pushed the ball into an empty net.

MVP: Does he want a question? THE Kostas Fortounis. The two goals of the 31-year-old ace gave Piraeus the victory, while overall by entering the match he has lifted Piraeus, who did not bring quality to their game up to that point.

Whistle: Bad refereeing by Papadopoulos and his honor. No serious or decisive error was made, but there were certainly mistakes. In suggestions for fouls, in disciplinary control despite the hard play (mainly by Astera players), in offsides in the first half basically in Astera’s counter-attacks, for which we probably had VAR intervention in case a goal was scored.

The film of the match via sport-fm.gr

Asteras Tripoli (Milan Rastavac): Papadopoulos – Garthia, Kastanio, Picsou, Houhoumis (83′ Diara) – Alagbe, Gos (66′ Valiente), Sourlis (67′ Zouglis) – Kaltsas, Crespi (83′ Alvares), Miritelo (15′ Mantzis)

The following were left on the benches: Sgouris, Christopoulos, Grozdanich, Kosteas

Olympiacos (Diego Martinez): Paschalakis – Rodinei, Retsos, Doi, Ortega – Ese, Alexandropoulos – Biel (63′ Masouras), Scarpa (63′ Fortunis), Solbakken (46′ Pontense lt. 88′ Ibora) – El Kaabi (73′ Jovetic)

Left on the bench were: Tzolakis, Kini, Carvalho, Biancon

Referee: John Papadopoulos

Assistants: Vassilis Nikolokakis, Michael Papadakis

4th referee: Konstantinos Andrianos

VAR: Andreas Gamaris, Dimitris Samoilis