He paid for his mistake and Olympiacos dropped two points!

He changed face in the second half, but it didn’t… third the good for him Olympic! The “red and white” improved in the replay and took the lead with El Kaabishowed that they have the match in hand with the Rangersbut… A defensive inactivity and successive mistakes in the same phase gave the opportunity to Desserts to write the 1-1, which remained until the final in “G. Karaiskakis”.

At 7 points both, they are still in qualifying positions, but the Piraeus missed the opportunity to get the three points, which would have laid a solid foundation to enter the eight.

Historic goal for him El Kaabiwho is at the top of the list of scorers for the “red and whites” in Europe in the company of his compatriot El Arabi and it is only a matter of time before he overtakes him.

Olympiacos plays Steaua in Bucharest on the 5th matchday, after first giving up two derbies. This one with PAOK in Toumba next Sunday and the other with AEK in Faliro immediately after the restart from the break.

In the coach’s mind

With the classic 4-2-3-1, Jose Luis Mendiliber lined up Olympiakos. At home, Tzolakis and Kostinia, Retsos, Karmos, Apostolopoulos in the four defense. Mouzakitis, Ese duo in the axis, having in front of them in the midfield triplet of Rodney, Ciquinho, Gelson. El Kaabi was at the top of the attack.

With a 4-2-3-1 formation, Philippe Clément also brought Rangers down. Butland in goal, with Sterling, Shooter, Prepper and Hefte in the back four. Barron with Ruskin in the lead, while behind the only advanced Dessers, started Czerny, Bayrami and Diomande.

The match

A clear desire to create attacks with few passes and direct football from both teams at the start, with Rodenei stepping dangerously into the area in the 8th minute, but being cut down. Rangers had a focus in their game, they were constantly looking for balls in the back of the Olympiakos defense and from one such they created their first big phase in the 11th minute, but Tzolakis had the answer to Desserts’ lateral four-a-four.

Two minutes later, El Kaabi played in a cross for Ciquinho, but the latter’s volley went wide as the Scots carved out another great chance. It was the 17th minute when Bajrami entered the “box” from the side, turned and Dessers tried to beat Tzolakis with a shot on the movewith the Greek goalkeeper impressively pulling it off with his feet.

The visitors were better on the pitch, being more dangerous against the rushing Olympiakos. Quite a few mistakes in easy passes, with the clear mind absent. After the half-hour mark, the Mendiliber side tried to get more creative, with Zelson firing into the outside of the net after Cicinho’s cross in the 35th minute. A few minutes later, Esse looked to play vertically for El Kaabi, but his pass was too powerful, with 0-0 sealing the efforts of both teams.

Olympiacos dramatically changed its image at the start of the second half. Velde was active, but only for a few minutes, with the Piraeus having momentum and more intensity compared to the first half. This resulted in them finding the goal in the 56th minute. THE Musician raised great in the area, o Chikinio broke his head and El Kaabi he scored with an amazing finish, proving that he is… one of the few killers. The “G. Karaiskakis” shook, the crowd was pushing for a second goal but Tsikinho’s shot in the 59th minute went wide of the goal.

His team Mendiliber he seemed to have put the water in the groove, he had limited the dangerous attacks of the guests, but out of nowhere he conceded the equalizer. In an unsuspected phase, three consecutive mistakes were made and it was 1-1. Initially, Mouzakitis did not come out first to the ball, then Karmo made a pass to an opponent and in the final, Retsos stung Dessers’ feint, fell to the grass and the Rangers forward made no mistake.

Vaskos shuffled the deck by throwing into the game and Oliveira, Pirola, Olympiacos tried rationally to create, but failed. Lots of duels, mistakes in the axis and incomplete efforts from both teams, with Rodney having a decisive intervention on Dessers in the 79th minute. The minutes passed, nothing changed and when in the 5th minute of stoppage time the Piraeus had the opportunity with a set ball to “steal” (with the fact that it was the last phase of the match) the match, Oliveira wasted it with a bad execution to seal the final 1-1…

MVP: Dessers will get the said award, since he was the most dangerous football player of the opponents. He created plenty of cracks, was in all of Rangers’ big phases as he teed up Retso and scored with a fine finish to make it 1-1.

The whistle: Bad refereeing by Stegemann, who lost the match. With a clear desire to give something more than the seeds to the guests, protecting their strong game. He didn’t make the big mistake, although he has “eaten” two or three fouls outside the Scots area, and in the 3rd minute of stoppage time he “baptizes” the corner… out.

OLYMPIC: Tzolakis, Costinia (77′ Pirola), Retsos, Karmo, Apostolopoulos (46′ Velde), Ese, Mouzakitis (87′ Kostoulas), Chikinio (77′ Oliveira), Gelson Rodiney and El Cambi.

RANGERS: Butland, Hefte (85′ Tavernier), Proper, Soutar, Sterling (52′ Nerasio), Bayrami, Ruskin, Baron, Diomande, Cerny (85′ McCausland) and Dessers (85′ Igmane).