A late penalty broke Zvezda’s hearts on a rainy night in Pireaus as Olympiacos clinched third place in UCL Group B and qualified for Europa League knockout stages at the expense of our team.
Ground: Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium
Attendance: 32,000
Referee: Daniele Orsato (Italy)
Goalscorer: El Arabi 88’ (pen)
Olympiacos: José Sá, Rúben Semedo, Camara, Bouchalakis, Guilherme, Podence, El Arabi, Elabdellaoui, Masouras, Meriah, Tsimikas.
Substitutes: Allain, Benzia, Guerrero, Lovera, Papadopoulos, Torosidis, Randjelović.
Crvena zvezda: Borjan, Gobeljić, Minunović, Degenek, Rodić, Petrović, Ivanić, García, Marin, Vukanović, Tomané.
Substitutes: Popović, Pankov, Vulić, Jander, Van La Parra, Pavkov, Boakye.
It was a case of do or die tonight in Pireaus as Serbian champions seeked a way into Europa League knockout stages. To complete that feat, it was required that at least a point is won against Olympiacos, who needed a win to claim that third place in the group.
Despite being on the back foot for most of the opening 45 minutes, our team has had a golden chance to take the lead before the break as referee rightly awarded a penalty kick following a foul on Marko Marin. However, Tomané was denied by the crossbar to the disappointment of the away fans.
Milan Borjan produced some more heroics to keep Zvezda in the game until the end, but ultimately it was another penalty that settled the contest. Substitute Jander handled in his own box and referee Daniele Orsato pointed to the spot once more. Youssef El Araby duly scored to make it 1-0 and all but eliminate our team.
There was no late equalizer as Zvezda ended their participation in European competitions for the season. We’ll now turn to Superliga and Kup Srbije in the bit to win the elusive Double.