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Olympiacos 3-1 Borussia Dortmund: Holebas, Modesto header, Lewandowski,Djebbour great-strike
Olympiacos beat Borussia Dortmund 3-1 at the Karaiskakis Stadium on Wednesday 19/10/2011, to leave the German champions bottom of Champions League Group F.
Goals from Jose Holebas, Rafik Djebbour and Francois Modesto did the damage for the Greek hosts, with Robert Lewandowski on target for the visitors.
The result brought Olympiacos their first win in Group F, following defeats to Marseille and Arsenal, but left Dortmund with just a solitary point from their opening three games.
The Game
Dortmund got off to fast start in Athens. Just four minutes in Ivan Perisic drew a save from Franco Constanzo, and soon after Shinji Kawaga saw his lob drift over the bar with the Olympiacos goalkeeper stranded.
The fancied visitors were swarming all over their hosts, who finally achieved some relief when Costanzo punched away Mario Goetze's cross to spark a move upfield on eight minutes. Seconds later the Greek side took an unlikely lead.
Ivan Marcano picked up a clearance on the left, whipped over a first-time cross and Holebas got in front of his man to head past Roman Weidenfeller and into the corner. It was goal few inside the stadium had expected, and came completely against the run of play.
With the lead Olympiacos found their confidence, and set about making the rest of first half a far more even contest. And with spaces appearing all over the field, it became a question of who would score next.
Lewandowski had an effort disallowed for offside on 14 minutes, but the Polish international wouldn't be denied as the game approached the half-hour mark. A swift break led to the striker taking up possession on the edge of the box, and he made no mistake with a crisp low finish into the bottom corner to bring the game level at 1-1.
Dortmund threatened the lead soon after, but Contanzo was once again on hand to deny Perisic from 10 yards with a sharp reaction save. Then it was Olympiacos's turn to come close, with Kevin Mirallas inches away from applying the vital touch to Djebbour's cross from the right.
But the Greeks would not be denied the lead at half-time. On 40 minutes, Djebbour took control inside the box, held off Neven Subotic and crashed a shot across Weidenfeller and into the roof of the net. Djeboour could have made it 3-1 soon after, but he failed to connect with a volley from 12 yards out, with just the goalkeeper to beat.
The second half was a far more reserved affair. The onslaught most expected from Dortmund never really arrived, and it was Olympiacos who were by far the superior side after the interval.
The home side should have made it 3-1 just after the hour mark, but Modesto stooped to send a free header straight at Weidenfeller from 10 yards out.
The defender got his goal on 78 minutes, however, heading home Ariel Ibagaza's left-wing free-kick to end the game as a contest. It was no more than Olympiacos deserved, having been the more committed and organised of the two sides on the balance of 90 minutes. Dortmund looked dangerous in patches, but defensively they were found wanting.
To stand any chance of progressing to the knock-out stages the Germans will need to show considerable improvement in their final three games - one of which see them go to the Emirates to face group leaders Arsenal.
Will Tidey / Eurosport
Source: Eurosport
Team Line-up:
Olympiacos: Costanzo, Modesto, Papadopoulos, Mellberg, Marcano, Orbaiz, Makoun, Mirallas, Ibagaza, Holebas, Djebbour // Subs; Megyeri, Maniatis, Papazoglou, Pantelic, Fetfatzidis, Potouridis, Abdoun
Dortmund: Weidenfeller, Piszczek, Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer, Gundogan, Bender, Gotze, Kagawa, Perisic, Lewandowski // Subs: Langerak, Kehl, Leitner, Blaszczykowski, Grosskreutz, Lowe, Felipe Santana
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