Wednesday, 4 November 2015

UCL:-: Olympiacos 2 vs 1 Dinamo Zagreb| Match Report


Felipe Pardo's second-half double earned Olympiacos a 2-1
victory over Dinamo Zagreb and sent the Greek side six
points clear of Arsenal in Group F.

Zagreb looked set to pull off a shock when Armin Hodzic
crashed in a first-half header to give the visitors the lead at
Karaiskakis Stadium before Kostas Fortounis had a second-
half penalty saved.

But Pardo spared Fortounis' blushes when he netted within
seconds of his introduction as a substitute, and the
Colombian scored the winner in the final minute to put
Olympiacos on the verge of the last 16.

A point in either of Marco Silva's team's last two group
games against Arsenal and Bayern Munich will seal their
progression to the knockout phase, with both the Gunners
and Dinamo needing two wins and an Olympiacos defeat
against Bayern to overtake them.

This victory extended Olympiacos' unbeaten run to 10
matches in all competitions but Silva's men were given a
stern test by battling Dinamo despite Josip Pivaric's late
sending off for the visitors.

Amid a cacophony of noise from the home crowd, the game
began at a fast pace and Dinamo pressed as they sought to
restrict their hosts' time and space on the ball.

The early chances fell the way of the home side and Hernani
should have opened the scoring when he connected with
Arthur Masuaku's cross, but the Portuguese winger looped
his header just over the target.

Just as it looked like Olympiacos were settling into their
stride, Pivaric found room down the left wing and sent over
a cross that found the unmarked Hodzic, whose header
slammed against the underside of the crossbar and into the
net.

The home side looked to hit back before half-time but their
best chance was squandered when Seba broke into the box
and opted to shoot rather than cross to Brown Ideye, with
Eduardo making a comfortable save.

Pajtim Kasami went closer just after the break, driving a
powerful shot just over the crossbar, but Olympiacos
suffered a blow when Alberto Botia limped off with a
hamstring injury.

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