Olympiacos makes history and continues to dream, making a huge breakthrough by qualifying for the semi-finals of the Conference League, where the Piraeus will face Aston Villa.
The hero for the Greek team is Konstantinos Tzolakis, who saved three penalties in the “Russian roulette”, sending Olympiakos to the semi-finals of the competition.
This is how they lined up
Medilibar started Olympiakos with 4-2-3-1, with Tzolakis in front of goal and Rodinei, Doi, Carmo and Ortega in the back four. Ese and Ciquinho were in midfield, with Fortuni, Pontense and Jovetic behind El Kaabi. Ismail Kartal, on the other hand, lined up Fener with: Livakovic, Osagi-Samuel, Dzikou, Bekao, Candioglu, Yukcek, Fred, Simanski, Kahveci, Dzeko and Tadic.
Kahvetsi opened the scoring
Olympiacos threatened first in the match, with a shot by Tsiquinios in the 3rd minute. The Portuguese midfielder maneuvered outside the Fenerbahce box and took a powerful shot, but the ball went wide.
In the 12th minute, the Turkish team, in their first really good moment in the game, opened the scoring with Kahvetsi. Tadic passed to Szymanski, the Pole passed to Kahvetsi and he made it 1-0 with a shot. Tzolakis fell but was unable to fight back.
Six minutes later, Tadic found himself inside the Olympiakos area and made the turn from the left, but Ortega was in the right position and cleared. After the first 20 minutes the tempo of the game dropped noticeably, with the Turks threatening again in the 35th minute with Kahvetsi. The scorer of the Turkish team found himself in a shooting position and shot hard, but Tzolakis stopped him with an impressive save.
In the last part of the first half, Olympiacos tried with high pressure to steal balls and create problems for Fenerbahce’s defense, as they did in Karaiskakis, but the Turks always found a way to clear the ball, before the Reds and Whites became a threat to their goal. Dominic Livakovic. Thus, the first half ended with Fenerbahce leading 1-0.
Change from Mediliber
Before the start of the second half Jose Luis Mendilibar made his first change of the game, with Ibora replacing Jovetic. The experienced coach switched the system to a 4-3-3, with Ibora playing alongside Ese and Cicinho playing a bit further in the “red and white” midfield trio. Fenerbahce threatened first in the replay, with Edin Dzeko in 50′. The home side’s Bosnian forward shot from the top of the box after Candioglu’s pass, but the ball bounced off the body of Doi and went out for a corner.
Finals with Carmo and Rodney
Five minutes later, Olympiacos responded with Karmos. After Fortouni’s corner kick, the Portuguese centre-back took the header, but sent the ball wide. In the 57th minute, Rodney maneuvered outside the Fenerbahce area and shot hard, but failed to give the ball a path to Livakovic’s goal. In the 63rd minute, Kantioglou made a deflected shot from outside the area, but the ball went past the left post of Tzolakis. Seconds later, Mendiliber made their second change, Masura replacing Podense.
Huge opportunity with Masoura
In the 80th minute, Olympiacos came a breath away from equalizing, with Giorgos Masouras. The international winger of Piraeus quickly came out on the counter, found himself opposite Livakovic and shot, but the Fenerbahce goalkeeper saved.
Two minutes later Fenerbahce scored with Baushuayi, who had come on as a 72nd substitute for Dzeko, but the goal was correctly disallowed for offside.
In the 86th minute, Szymanski’s shot from close range went wide and in the 89th minute, Medilibar brought on Richards instead of Ortega. In the remaining minutes, nothing changed in “Soukrou Saratsoglou”, with both teams going to overtime.
Beam with Ibora, opportunity with Karmo
The first half of extra time was slow, with Olympiakos effectively controlling the game and in the 104th minute missing a great double chance for 1-1. After Fortunis’ free-kick from the right, Ibora got a header, but Livakovic made an instinctive save with his foot and the ball then came to rest on the crossbar. The phase, however, did not end there. Karmo took the… rebound, headed it in, but Dzikou pushed the ball over the line, keeping it 1-0.
Changes by Medlibar, Doi sent off
In the 109th minute, Mendiliber made two more changes, with El Arabi and Horta instead of Fortuni and Ciquinho. Five minutes later Fenerbahce threatened with Tadic but his curling shot from the height of the box went wide. At 120+4′, Olympiacos was left with ten players, due to the dismissal of Andreas Richardos Doi with a second yellow card.
The penalty shootout
1-0: El Kaabi
Tadic – Save by Tzolakis
El Arabi – Save by Livakovic
1-1: Batshuayi
2-1: Horta
Under = Save by Tzolakis
3-1 Masouras
3-2: Tzikou
Rodney – Save by Livakovic
Bonucci – Save by Tzolakis
#Triumph #Olympiakos #Polis #Hero #Tzolakis #penalty #shootout #epic #qualification #semifinals
2024-04-29 10:14:37