With the… pressure high as a big protagonist, Olympiacos ended their preparation in the Netherlands ideally!

In the most ideal and convincing way, he completed the first stage of his preparation Olympic!

On Saturday afternoon (27/07), the “red and white” prevailed Nijmegen 2-0 in Mavrik, once again performing very well in the friendlies on Dutch soil.

With the players of Jose Luis Madrid to they press high all the way up the pitch from the 1st to the last minute, the Piraeus comfortably reached their second victory in their fourth friendly, leaving very positive impressions.

It is indicative that both the end of the excellent tonight, Gelson Martins at 31′as well as his Masoura at 36′, it was a result of pressing, while the score could very well have been higher, since in addition to several phases, Olympiacos also had two beams with Apostolopoulos (at 29′) and Papakanello (70′)!

We remind you how tonight, the Olympiakos team will leave Amsterdam for Athens, here where the work will continue, while having the opportunity for the players to take their first breaths of preparation.

In the coach’s mind:



THE Jose Luis Mendiliber keep them alone Masura and Kostoula in the starting line-up in relation to yesterday’s friendly, with Lorenzo Pirola to take the “baptism of fire” by making his debut with the “red and white”. Anagnostopoulos was in goal, with Rodinei, Pirola, Koutsidis and Apostolopoulos making up the defensive quartet. Bakulas and Biancon started on the axis, with Masoura and Zelson playing on the two “wings” and Papakanellos behind the only promoted, Babi Kostoula.

The match:

The start of the match was quite balanced, with its players Olympiakou have a clear mandate to they press suffocatingly across the length and breadth of the pitch, the time when the Nijmegen he seemed to react correctly most of the time in these pressure situations.

It was the Dutch who had a slight advantage at the start of the first half, threatening three times within five minutes 7′ to 12′, with shots which, however, did not particularly worry Anagnostopoulos. For their part, Piraeus did many things right on the pitch, showing good elements in both the inhibitory and the offensive part. However, the first final came in the 23rd minute, when Martins’ cross from the left, Kostoulas missed with a header from a good position.

Six minutes later, the “red and white” touched the goal, when his shot Apostolopoulos from the left, he tackled a defender’s body, with the ball changing course and to stop at the horizontal beam. Finally, the goal for Piraeus came two minutes later, when after Rodney pressure and steal, Zelson Martins he became the recipient of the ball and with a strong diagonal shot wrote the 1-0, scoring his second goal in the pre-season!

The excellent teamwork and the high pressure once again bore fruit for the set of Jose Luis Mediliber, when at 36′, Kostoulas “forced” the Dutch keeper to make the mistake, with him Masura to benefit and with a beautiful place in the opposite corner to makes it 2-0! In the 42′, the very active in the first half, Gelson Martins made a beautiful energy and turn from the right, with Bobbin to shoot in motion and Van Gasel to have a hard time. In fact, in the development of the phase, Papakanellos forced the Nijmegen keeper into another instinctive save!

As the first half ended, so did the second half secondly, with Olympiakos having the upper hand in the match, controlling the pace of the match. The first threat of repetition has just come in the 47th minute with Papakanello’s header after a duration phase, while, at 51′, quick counter attack with Martins narrowly missed a goal after Kostoulas didn’t make good contact with the ball. Seven minutes later, the young forward from Piraeus scored the final goal when, following a cross from Biancone, he received the ball inside the area, made a couple of dribbles, with his shot against the bodies.

With an hour to play, the Dutch threatened after some time with Onal’s flicked shot finding Tzolakis on hand. A little later, the Basque coach of Olympiakos started the changes, putting them on Ortega and Costinia in the positions of Masoura and Kostoula, essentially playing with four backs. Nevertheless, Piraeus continued to control the tempo, reaching the third goal in the 70th minute, when in a counter-attack situation, Rodinei carried the ball several meters, “broke” in Papacanellowho “emptied” his opponent with a sharp dribble, marking the junction of the beams from a lateral position for the Greek team’s second goal in the match!

In the 75′ and 79′, it was Tzolakis’ turn to star, consistently stopping the Dutch’s shots, while in the interval, the Martins missed in a tête-à-tête, wanting to dig the ball over Van Gasel. In the last quarter of the match, there was not much going on, with Olympiakos comfortably reaching the friendly victory with final score 2-0!

The match lineups:



Olympiakos (Jose Luis Mediliber): Anagnostopoulos (45′ Tzolakis), Rodinei, Pirola (73′ Abi), Koutsidis, Apostolopoulos (73′ Mouzakitis), Biancon (85′ Retsos), Bakulas, Masouras (65′ Ortega), Papakanellos (83′ Tsiquinio), Gelson ( 83′ Biel), Kostoulas (65′ Costinia).

Nijmegen (): Van Gasel, Marquez, Nuitink, Van Rooy, Ferdonk, Proper, Hedemakers, Vaisha, Sano, Gonzalez, Onal.