Olympiacos 0-2 Porto (vids) Champions League and Olympiacos

Olympiakos suffered a “sweet” defeat tonight (12/9). The “rojiblancos” lost to Porto 2-0, but at the same time Manchester City beat Marseille 3-0 and Piraeus took 3rd place in the group, allowing them to continue their European Europa League “journey” (they wanted the same result as the French, since they are even in the tie).

Pedro Martins started with Sa under the posts, Rafinia, Semedo, Cisse, Cholebas in defense from right to left, Bouhalakis, Embila in the “6aros8”, Kamaras higher in the axis, Masouras in Vrousa extremes and for El Arabi.

THE “CURSE” OF THE VAR

The game began, the ‘rojiblancos’ entered strong and with the intention of staying up, but very early the “curse” of the VAR appeared. On a corner kick from Octavio in the 6th minute, Felipe Anderson headed in, the ball bounced off Sa’s crossbar, exploded and was gone. Initially, the Porto player was indicated in an offside position and was not exposed but the ball did not cross the line. There was control of the VAR, but the repetition was clear that there were no goals and everything showed that the game would continue immediately. However, it later turned out that the referees were “looking” for the start of the phase and whether or not Holebas found the ball with his hand on the first crossbar. After about 4 minutes that Felix Brich and the VARistas “searched” for everything, the German referee showed the white ball from where Octavio scored and Porto opened the scoring.

So it was the third penalty against Olympiakos in their last “half” in the Champions League, in a period of about 45 minutes! From minute 54 of the Velodrome game until that moment and even in phases that were not “clear”, but they had to see them 5 and 10 times in the VAR.

MASOURAS “TOCARON” ON 1-1

To attribute Caesar’s to Caesar, the psychology of the “reds and whites” must have been at the nadir then. Regardless of whether they were violations or not, it is the path (we are talking about details) and it involved safe cases. All together. Now the hosts had to be reorganized and in the 15th minute they were taking a break from the draw. Bouchalakis made an excellent transfer to Masouras who came out very skillfully at the rear of the opponent’s defense, made the descent very beautiful / difficult against Diogo, but his place was out of place.

“CLEAN” 4-2-3-1 AFTER ENTRY IN FORTUNIS

From there until the break, the fight did not have a great phase, nor a special rhythm. Olympiakos kept the ball a longer click on his feet, he had given the game to the half of the “Dragons” and in fact from 35 ‘he played with a “clean” 4-2-3-1, as Fortounis then replaced Kamaras and passed behind El Arabi. At the same time, the Portuguese were “looking” for the counterattack, 2-3 times they came out with claims in the transition (there were also some errors from the hosts that gave some “easy” possessions), but without threatening. At the same time, there were some breaks that “froze” the rhythm, mainly by the guests, and in these conditions we reached the end of the first half.

THE “RED AND WHITE” CAME STRONG IN THE SECOND HALF, GREAT OPPORTUNITY WITH THE ARABI

With “good morning” in the second half, Olympiacos wanted to become the “boss” of the game. He entered better, while Porto did not seem willing to change their philosophy, as they “waited” for the “middle” phase to come out against. Semedo, Cisse, however, came out first on the ball whenever the guests wanted to play vertically, while at the same time the “rojiblancos” began to produce phases. In fact, in the 54th minute they “flirted” with the 1-1, when Fortounis came out with a nice play, “cut” for El Arabi, but he lost the position a little.

However, the hosts were receiving energy, going higher and higher, with Randzelovic, Brusai creating “situations” in the opponent’s frames and showing a good face.

4-4-2 AND THE FIRST PLEASURES OF MANCHESTER

At the same time, the news from Manchester was welcome, as City had opened the scoring against Marseille, but Martins wanted Olympiacos to decide their fate and not just depend on the other game. So in ’73 he played everything for everything. With the entry of Sudani, the hosts “turned” to a 4-4-2 (he and El Arabi in the para), Rangelovic stayed on the right “wing” and Holebas took the entire left side, while Fortounis converged on the axis. .

PORTO 2-0 IN TRANSITION IN A PHASE THAT RAISED 6 PLAYERS!

However, this “translated” into additional empty spaces and Porto are a very athletic and well-configured team. Yes, it had changes in its composition, but the “reserves” can also be at a high level. The full attack approach of the hosts created the empty space I was looking for. In minute 77, he came out on the counterattack, Dias dodged Rafinias in the frame of Sa and “cut” the ball that after a counterattack “put” Uribe, who sent it to the net with a shot. The “dragons”, for those who pay attention to the phase, raised 6 players in the frames of the hosts. It was Dias who “stepped” there first, he had the choice of Korona whom he “looked for” without success in the small area, while in the limits of the big one he was the back scorer and 3 more, while another “climbed”.

THE MANDATES OF ETIHAD “DULCE” HIM