Olympiakos denies Spurs victory in Piraeus
Tough nut Olympiakos came back from 2-0 down to snatch a 2-2 draw from Tottenham on its opening night in the Champions League in Piraeus on Wednesday.
The Reds were pushed all the way by last season’s finalist, but stood the pressure and held the result they had secured from early in the second half.
They might even consider themselves unlucky for being denied an opening goal on the 18th minute when they hit the woodwork, a few minutes before Harry Kane scored Tottenham’s first from the penalty spot.
Spurs only had to wait four more minutes to add to their tally through a spectacular strike by Loucas Moura, but the hosts were not disappointed by the course of the game.
Instead they managed to cut the deficit before the interval with Portuguese winger Daniel Podence, and when experienced Frenchman Mathieu Valbuena earned a penalty eight minutes into the second half he rose to the task to equalize from 11 meters out.
Tottenham had almost 40 minutes to restore its lead but could not do so, partly due to its poor finishing at times and partly because of Olympiakos’ solid defending that often led to threatening counter-attacks for the Greek team.
The result leaves the hosts the happiest, receiving a very warm applause by their fans at the filled-to-capacity Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium.
