The scenario of the friendly match between Olympiacos and Newcastle United, on Friday, was the same as the one of the match with Braga. It ended in a draw (1-1) during its regular time and the penalty shoot-out left the two teams level 4-4.
The lineup that Leonardo Jardim used was different than the one that played against Braga. Carroll was the goalkeeper. Torossidis was the right back, Dielna the left one and Siovas with Papazoglou were the two central defenders.
Fejsa with Chumbinho played in the midfield, with Lykogiannis in front of them. Fetfatzidis played at the left side, Diogo on the right and Raffik Djbbour was the striker. Carroll acted correctly and saved Ameobi’s header on 10’. He did the same with Vuckic’s shot on 16’. Diogo’s shot on 21’ was saved by Krul.
Newcastle United took the lead in an… adventurous manner. After a corner kick, Gosling received the ball to the right and crossed it into the box. Siovas kicked it away, but the ball bounced against Obertan and came to Taylor, who sent it at the back of the net from a close distance.
Chumbinho’s free kick on 32’ confused Krul, who saved it by instinct, using his legs! Djebbour took a shot on 35’ but Krul made another save.
In the second half Olympiacos made several changes. Cholevas was the left defender, and Manolas joined Siovas as the centre back. Modesto, Maniatis and Tatos were the midfielders. Vlachodimos played at the left, Abdoun at the right and Mitroglou was the sole striker. Tatos served the ball to Mitroglou on 47’, he took the shot but Krul saved it with two efforts. Abdoun’s shot on 62’ was denied by Krul as well.
On 72’ Abdoun and Mitroglou passed the ball to each other and the Greek striker took a beautiful shot, but Krul said “no” once more. The referee’s decision to send off Modesto on 74’ was a bit too much.
Olympiacos’s was still superior to its opponent. On 79’ minutes Mitroglou stole the ball in the midfield and found Djamel Abdoun on the left side, brilliantly. The Algerian passed it again to Mitroglou and he took the shot from within the box, sending the ball at the back of the net! Olympiacos drew level. On 82 minutes Carroll saved Papiss Cisse’s header beautifully. Newcastle’s striker then “aimed” at Carroll’s right post.
The tie during the regular time lead the two teams to a five penalty shoot-out. Abdoun scored first and Cisse missed his chance. Maniatis scored his first goal for Olympiacos, marking the 2-0 score. Vuckic scored (2-1) and so did Marko Pantelic (3-1). Amalfitano followed this example (3-2) and so did Cholevas (4-2) and Perch (4-3). Tatos was defeated by Krul and Abeid marked the final 4-4 score.
F.C. NEWCASTLE UNITED: Krul, Santon, Williamson, Perch, Taylor, Bigirimana, Gosling, Obertan, Vuckic, Shola Ameobi, Amalfitano. Abeid, Dumett, Cisse and Sammy Ameobi also played.
OLYMPIACOS F.C.: Carroll, Papazoglou (46’ Manolas), Fejsa (46’ Modesto), Djebbour (46’ Mitroglou, 87’ Karagounis), Fetfatzidis (46’ Tatos), Siovas, Dielna (46’ Cholevas), Lykogiannis (46’ Vlachodimos), Chumbinho (46’ Maniatis), Diogo (46’ Abdoun), Torossidis (69’ Pantelic).
• Lykogiannis, Shola Ameobi, Modesto (was sent off on 74’ with 2 yellow cards), Vuckic, Abdoun and Carroll received yellow cards.
• Our team leaves Portugal on Saturday morning. They will “drive” to Lisbon and from there “fly” to Milan. Their return home is expected late Saturday night.
