Golden change by Yaremchuk, he saved Olympiakos from a jam with the militant Athens Kallithea!

Olympiacos was stressed, but managed to bend the resistance of the militant Athens Kallithea!

In their first official home game for this season, the “red and whites” came in full and took the lead in the 14th minute with a goal by the very active Weldebut they saw the visitors equalize in the 60th minute with his own goal Uldrikis and make it very difficult for them during the second half.

However, the “golden” change of Mendiliber came, Yaremchukto give the solution, forming the final 2-1 in the 79th minute, with his goal counting after VAR intervention.

Thus, Olympiacos made it 2/2 at the start of this year’s Stoiximan Super League, after the double of its premiere in Volos, while for the 3rd matchday it will be hosted by Lamia (31/8, 19:30). On the other hand, Athens Kallithea fought hard, but, in the end, suffered their first defeat, while next week they will host Panathinaikos at the Leoforos stadium.

In the minds of the coaches:

With 4-2-3-1 lined up Olympiakos o Mendilibernot having available Koutsidis, Kostoulas, Papakanellos, Mouzakitis and Bakula, who traveled to Brazil with the Youth team, as well as the injured Retso. Tzolakis started under the posts, with Rodinei, Pirola, Biancon and Ortega as a defensive four, Doi and Ese were the two midfielders, with Ciquinho in front of them, Martins, Velde in a wing role and El Kaabi at the top of the attack.

On the other hand, Mr Massimo Donati had Valbuena, Gianni, Marotta and Nikolic out, opting for it 3-4-2-1which he also chose in the premiere with Levadeiakos. Bragan remained the goalkeeper, with Mejias, Isimat-Mirren and Pasalidis a trio of stoppers. Manthatis on the right, Soiri on the left, Matiya, Motok, on the axis, while Moutinho and Mercati were moving behind the more advanced Uldrikis.

The match:

The match started with Olympiakos pressing very high from the first second, with a clear intention to enter the match with a quick goal. However, despite constantly moving the ball around in the visitors’ half, he couldn’t find the way to find the final pass he needed. Shortly before the end of the first quarter, referee Evangelou briefly stopped the game to convey to the two benches that there is problem with VAR and on-field reviewthe monitor, that is, which exists to see, whenever necessary, the replays of the phases.

With the game continuing despite the unexpected, Olympiacos was fortunate to take the lead with the first goal they created, in the 14th minute. It was a great vertical pass from him Ortega she, who “unlocked” the defense of Athens Kallithea, with Welde to make the move, receive the ball, converge and “execute” with a flawless placement, for 1-0!

The home team continued to have complete control of the match, but without creating long phases for goals. In the 18th century Rodney he made a beautiful effort and a sharp turn, very close to Baragan, while in the 27th minute Chikinio he reached the small area, but crossed over Mechias, while the ball then reached the Martinswho shot hard and high from a good position.

In the 36th minute, the “red and white” threatened the opponent’s goal again, when Welde he went past three defenders inside the visitors’ box before seeing Baragan save his shot, while Athens Kallithea scored their first final effort in the 42nd minute when Soiri’s long-range shot was met by Pirola, with the ball just wide next to the left post of Tzolakis.

At the start of the second half, Athens Kallithea entered the Olympiakos penalty area, with Uldrikis making a turn on Tzolakis, while Evangelos was whistled for a hand on the Latvian striker as he tried to control the ball. At 50′ Ese left injured for the locker room, with Stamenic replacing him.

While Olympiacos could not create a chance for a second goal, Athens Kallithea were taking measures on the field, initially threatening in the 58th minute, when after Moutinho’s long shot, which was against Pirolas, the Demetrius he was in a shooting position, but shot at Tzolakis. In the 60th minute, Moutinho made the cross and Uldrikis the back-heel, with the defense chasing away a corner, from the execution of which came the equalizer for the guests. After its execution Soireeand inertia of the defense, the ball reached the Uldrikiswhich from close range equalized at 1-1.

In the 69th Mendiliber made a triple change, with Masoura, Yaremchuk and Garcia (debut) replacing Velde, Cicinho and Biancone, while the visitors threatened again in the 72nd minute, with the active Demetrius converging and converting, while Uldrikis shot high, from a good position, but without balance and under pressure from Pirola.

Olympiacos found a rhythm again from 74′ onwards, with El Kaabi shooting at Baragan, while the goalkeeper of Athens Kallithea had an answer to Masoura’s effort in 76′. Finally, Olympiacos found the second goal in the 77th minute, when after his shot Stamenicthe ball went against the El Kaabi and Baragan blocked, while later in the phase o Yaremchuk found himself in the path of the ball, sending the ball into the net from close range. Initially, Evangelou and his assistant disallowed El Kaabi’s offside goal, but with the help of VAR and the lines appeared to be covered, with 2-1 counting!

Until the end, the guests looked for a way to find a second goal, having one more phase at 90’+1′, when Diba stole, Uldrikis passed to Demetrius and he shot hard, with the ball countering and ending up for a corner. Thus, Olympiacos got the difficult three points by making it 2/2, while Athens Kallithea stayed with the point they got in the premiere, against Levadeiakos.

MVP: THE Christopher Velde impressed with his performance, especially in the first half. Every time he got the ball he did the right thing, opening the scoring in the 14th minute after a great move and a perfect finish. Until he was replaced by Medilibar in the 69th minute, he was the most active attacking player of Olympiakos.

The whistle: THE Evangelou he had to take it on himself for a few minutes, due to the problem with the on-field VAR review at the start of the match. Difficult for him and his assistant was the phase of Olympiakos’ second goal, initially they canceled the goal, with the VAR setting the lines and measuring the goal correctly.

Team compositions:

Olympiacos (Medilibar, 4-2-3-1): Tzolakis – Rodinei, Biancon (69′ Garcia), Pirola, Ortega – Doi, Ese (50′ Stamenic) – Martins, Ciquinho (69′ Jaremczuk), Velde (69′ Masouras) – El Caabi

Paschalakis, Anagnostopoulos, Kostinia and Apostolopoulos.

Athens Kallithea (Donati, 3-4-2-1): Baragan – Mejias (40′ Demetrius), Isimat Mirren, Pasalidis – Manthatis, Matiya (84′ Vasilogiannis), Motok, Soiri (75′ Hanousek) – Mercati (46′ Mtiba), Moutinho (84′ Loukinas) – Uldrikis

Gelios, Matijevic, Moustakopoulos and Tsivelekidis.

Referee: Angel Evangelou

First Assistant: Nikolaos Torosiadis

Second Assistant: Argyrios Davelas

4th: Alexandros Tsakalides

VAR: Petros Tsagarakis, Kostaras

The Live of sport-fm.gr