Although playing without its international footballers, who are still on vacation, as well as without the injured, Olympiacos played well against the Russians.
Our team started the game with a 4-3-3 formation; with Megyeri defending the goalpost, Tasos Papazoglou on the right side of the defensive line, Claude Dielna on the left, Kostas Manolas (right stopper) and Dimitris Siovas (left stopper) in the centre, Fejsa playing in front of the central defenders, with Tatos and Chumbinho in front of him; with Abdoun on the left wing and Javito on the right and Rafik Djebbour at the top of the offense, wearing the captain’s armand.
During the game, the two wingmen changed sides, according to Leonardo Jardim’s directions.
In the first half, Spartak tried to come on strong and menacing, but Olympiacos equilibrated the game early and took initiatives.
In the second half, Leonardo Jardim substituted several players and changed the team’s formation to 4-2-3-1, with Potouridis entering the left back side of defense. Siovas, Dielna and Papazoglou maintained their positions. Modesto and Fejsa played in the midfield while Diogo was positioned in front of them; Abdoun on the left side and Vlachodimos on the right, helping out Marko Pantelic who took over from Djebbour.
In the beginning of the second half, Olympiacos were bery offensive and fast, and really pressured Spartak’s defense. On 51 minutes, Abdoun took advantage of the pressure, came out from the left side, and changed the game to the right side, passing to Diogo, who headed the ball to Pantelic and saw him score the opener.
On 63 minutes, Jardim made one more change and Karagounis substituted Abdoun but moved to the right side. For tactical reasons, combined with fatigue, in this first game of the season, Javito re-entered the game, this time to substitute Claude Dielna.
It was only a matter of luck, or lack of it, that Olympiacos did not hold on to the victorious 1-0 until the final whistle, as on 84 minutes Welliton took advantage from the confusion that occurred at the penalty box and beat Roy Carroll.
SCORERS: 51’ Pantelic / 84’ Welliton
YELLOW CARDS: Parshivlyuk, Zotov, de Zeeuw, McGeady/ Dielna, Karagounis
RED CARDS: –
ATTEMPTS AGAINST THE BAR: –
REFEREE: Et Cemil (Turkey)
ASSISTANT REFEREES: Eger Michal (Austria), Celik Serdar (Turkey)
OLYMPIACOS FC: Megyeri (46’ Carroll), Papazoglou, Dielna (82’ Javito), Manolas (46’ Potouridis), Siovas, Fejsa, Tatos (46’ Modesto), Chumbinho (46’ Diogo), Abdoun, Χαβίτο Javito (46’ Vlachodimos), Djebbour (c) (46’ Pantelic).
SPARTAK MOSCOW: Rebrov, D. Kombarov, Gatagov, Pareja, Parshivlyuk (c), Yakovlev, de Zeeuw, Zotov, McGeady, Ari, Welliton, as well as Obukhov, Suchý and Kutepov.
* Tomorrow the team has the day off. Our footballers will make it back to Achenkirch’s stadium on Monday, at 9:30 for their last training on Austrian ground, shortly before their second friendly against Alania Vladikavkaz at the Schwaz stadium (18:00 local time, 19:00 Greece time).
