Olympiakos hammers its intention home
Triumph for PAOK at Aberdeen, after trailing 2-0 with 20 minutes to go
Thursday was a big night for Olympiakos that defeated visiting West Ham in Piraeus for the Europa League, while AEK and Panathinaikos went down to French opposition. PAOK snatched victory in Scotland for the Conference League.
Olympiakos scored its first win in the group, and the 2-1 result over West Ham at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium boosts the Reds’ hopes for at least the third spot that leads to the knockout stages of the Conference League.
In its best performance to date this season, Olympiakos pinned West Ham down for the first 70 minutes and scored twice and found two goals in the first half, a spectacular effort by Kostas Fortounis and a Rodinei goal that went in off Angelo Ogbonna.
West Ham took advantage of the usual deflation of the Reds in the last quarter of the game, pulled a goal back via Paqueta, but could not find an equalizer. Olympiakos is third with four points at the group’s halfway point.
AEK lost 3-1 at Marseille mainly due to its several defensive errors, including the challenge early in the second half that led to the red card to keeper Cican Stankovic.
In a wonderful atmosphere at the Velodrome Stadium, given that Marseille and AEK fans have long established friendly relations, the French team took a first-half lead with Vitinha.
AEK equalized with Orbelin Pineda, but a few minutes later Stankovic conceded a penalty and left AEK with 10 men. Marseille scored from the spot not once but twice, first through Amine Harit and then via Jordan Veretout to seal victory. AEK lies second with four points in three games.
Panathinaikos fell victim to the excellent counter attacks of Rennes and lost 2-1 at home to its French visitors.
Rennes scored at the start of both halves, first via Amine Gouiri and then through Arnaud Kalimuendo.
Fotis Ioannidis found the target from the penalty spot on the hour mark, but all other goalscoring chances went to waste. Panathinaikos is also on four points from three matches.
PAOK won 3-2 at Aberdeen for the Conference League, extending its perfect record in the group with nine points from three matches.
After a goalless first half, the Scots led 2-0 thanks to Bogdan Miovski and Dante Polvara.
However Kiril Despodov reduced the arrears for PAOK before Adelino Vieirinha shot home the equalizer. The Thessaloniki team completed its comeback late in time added-on with a Stefan Schwab penalty.
