Olympiakos reaches its first European semifinal, as PAOK crashes out
Tzolakis saves three penalty kicks and Olympiakos' season
Olympiakos is in the semifinals of the Europa Conference League, and will face Aston Villa for a spot in the final to take place in Athens, after eliminating Fenerbahce in the penalty shootout on Thursday, while PAOK lost to Club Bruges for a second time.
The Reds lost 1-0 in Turkey, but had goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis save three spot kicks to take the Piraeus team to its first ever European semifinal.
Irfan Kahveci scored the only goal of the match in Istanbul on the 11th minute, leveling the aggregate score after the 3-2 win for Olympiakos in the first leg in Piraeus a week earlier.
Olympiakos was unlucky to hit the goal frame in extra time, at the end of which it was left with 10 men due to the red card shown to Andreas Ntoi.
Then in the shootout Tzolakis saved three penalties by Fenerbahce (Olympiakos’ players had two kicks saved) and the Reds won 2-1 to clinch qualification, on a truly historic night for the club.
PAOK, on the other hand, did not meet its fans’ expectations at Toumba, going down 2-0 to a clearly superior Club Bruges.
The Thessaloniki team was second-best to its visitors, just like it had been at the first leg, that the Belgians had won 1-0.
Bruges went ahead with Ferran Jutlga on the 33rd, and the Spaniard got to score a second just before half-time, practically taking the tie beyond PAOK.
