Four-goal Reds see off Viktoria in Piraeus

Olympiakos had to wait 50 minutes on Tuesday to break the deadlock with Viktoria Plzen, but then cruised through to the third qualifying round of the Champions League as it won 4-0 at home after the goalless draw away a week earlier.

The Piraeus team struck the woodwork with Guilherme with just one minute on the clock and put great pressure on the visitors in the first 10 minutes, but that subsided soon after, even allowing the Czechs some visits to the hosts’ box.

The Reds had to wait for their 14th goal effort in the game to open the score: On the 51st minute Mathieu Valbuena took a corner kick from the left, that was met at the edge of the six-yard box by Guilherme, who headed the ball into the net, right next to Viktoria’s left post.

Olympiakos doubled its lead on the 70th minute as a solo effort by Miguel Angel Guerrero, again from the left, caught the Czech defense unprepared and the Spaniard went all the way tapping home the second goal that sealed Olympiakos’ qualification.

Three minutes later, a Guilherme corner ended up again into the net after the ball bounced in off the back of Viktoria’s Radim Reznik for an own goal.

The final goal came eight minutes from time, as Ruben Semedo got the spills from a weak save by Viktoria keeper Ales Hruska to make it 4-0 from close range.

Up next Olympiakos will face Turkey’s Basaksehir, with the first game in Istanbul on August 7 and the return in Piraeus six days later.