Toothless Olympiakos succumbs to Dynamo at Kiev
The European dream has ended for Olympiakos, as the 2-2 home draw last week was followed by a 1-0 loss at Dynamo Kiev on Thursday. The Ukrainians proved more effective in attack over the two legs, taking most of the few chances they created, and advanced on a 3-2 aggregate score to the last 16 of the Europa League.
Olympiakos fielded a depleted side in Ukraine, missing some of its key players such as winger Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, central defender Jagos Vukovic and right-back Omar Elabdellaoui. Many of the players who did make the starting XI underperformed, letting down coach Pedro Martins.
Kiev is never a easy place to play at, but the Reds should have been more creative and less predictable in attack, especially in the first half.
Spaniard Fran Sol scored the only goal for the hosts from the edge of the six-yard box after a Vitaliy Mikolenko cross from the left on the 32nd minute, in what was practically the first time the Ukrainians threatened the Olympiakos goal.
In the second half Olympiakos missed some decent chances with Ahmed Hassan and Miguel Angel Guerrero, but in a game it needed at least one goal to have any hope of advancing it remained scoreless. The only real benefit from this game for the Piraeus team should be the positive showing of substitute Giorgos Massouras.
This is the second year in a row that Dynamo Kiev has eliminated Greece’s sole representative in the Round of 32 of the Europa League, after seeing off AEK at exactly the same point a year ago.
