THE Olympic had a must win derby with her AEK and he didn’t let it… escape him. The Mendiliber team prevailed 2-0, with the goals of their attackers and stayed behind the pioneer PAOK, leaving the Union – alone – in the 3rd place of the Super League.
Olympiacos got its first derby win of the year and remained at -1 from the Super League leader, PAOK. AEK was defeated in “Karaiskakis” (2-0), remained -4 from the top of the scoreboard and continued a bad streak that “runs” in the derbies.
This was AEK’s second consecutive defeat (by the same score they had been defeated by PAOK in New Philadelphia) and 9th in a row in a derby, a streak that started at the end of the regular season last year with a 0-1 defeat by Olympiakos.
The game…
The derby had a slow start, with Olympiakos trying to take offensive initiatives, AEK standing well and both teams making mistakes in their development. The first time that the Piraeus promoted several players to the side of the Union (9′) they also reached their first important phase in the match. Retsos found Kostinia, he made a wonderful cross but the header of the unmarked El Kaabi ended up in the center of the goal and into the arms of Strakosa.[άρειεπιθετικέςπρωτοβουλίεςτηνΑΕΚναστέκεταικαλάκαιτιςδυοομάδεςνακάνουνλάθηστηνανάπτυξήτουςΤηνπρώτηφοράπουοιΠειραιώτεςανέβασαναρκετούςπαίκτεςπροςτηνμεριάτηςΈνωσης(9′)έφτσανκαιστηνπρώτητουςσημαντικήφάσηστοματςΟΡέτσοςβρήκετονΚοστίνιααυτόςέβγαλευπέροχησέντρααλλάηκεφαλιάτουαμαρκάριστουΕλΚααμπίκατέληξεστοκέντροτηςεστίαςκαιστηναγκαλιάτουΣτρακόσα
AEK tried to press effectively in the center area. At 16′, however, she saw Strakosa saving her. Taremi combined beautifully with El Kaabi, with the Iranian lifting the ball for the Moroccan at the back of the AEK defence. The Union goalkeeper, however, made an impressive one-handed save for a corner.
Olympiacos managed to keep more of the ball in its possession, but not to have a dominant presence. AEK remained committed to their tactics, struggled, but managed to limit their defensive gaps. However, the Union ran enough, since in moments when it launched a counterattack, it made mistakes in the circulation of the ball.
From the 25th minute onwards, AEK showed a good offensive presence, with Penrais getting several attempts and Jovic receiving two good crosses, but not having time to execute. Where the Union showed to raise… turns, a mistake by Vida makes it 1-0. In the 31st minute, Costinia crossed from the right, Taremi got a header at the far post and the ball found Vida’s raised hand. Tobias Stiller showed the white arrow and El Kaabi accurately executed the penalty for Olympiakos 1-0.
Piraeus tried to play quickly and reach a new goal. In the 39th minute and after a quick free kick, Podense made the tackle, the ball hit Rota’s back. El Kaabi took the header but missed. Shortly after (42′) the Moroccan laid on Podense, the Portuguese caught the shot from the height of the large area with one hand and sent the ball just wide.
The first corrective moves by the coaches followed (62′), with Nikolots putting Gacinovic and Kutesa in the match, to make AEK more aggressive and Medilibar throwing Ciquinho to the wings. At this critical transitional point, Olympiacos reached 2-0, with a “set” phase. Pontense took a free-kick from the left, Taremi got up at the far post – behind Relvas and Koutesa – and doubled the home team’s lead with a header.
Marco Nicolis played his… rest in the derby, putting Joao Mario and Piero in the match. Overall, the changes he made did not deliver as expected. Olympiacos played intelligently, pressed high and reached the victory comfortably. At 90+1′ and in AEK’s “big” missed chance in the replay, Tzolakis pushed Gatsinovic’s shot into a corner.
The compositions of the two teams:
OLYMPIC (Jose Luis Mendiliber): Tzolakis, Costinia, Retsos, Pirola, Bruno, Ese, Garcia (69′ Scipioni), Campella (63′ Ciquinio), Pontense (83′ Strefetsa), El Kaabi (84′ Yaremchuk), Taremi (69′ Rodiney).
AEK (Marko Nikolic): Strakosia, Rota, Vida, Penreis (79′ Pelios), Relvas, Pineda, Marin (62′ Gacinovic), Mandalos (71′ Joao Mario), Jovic, Koita (71′ Piero), Kaloskamis (62′ Koutesa)
Referee: Tobias Stiller
Assistants: Christian Gitelman, Mark Bors
4th: Tsimenterides
VAR: Raichel Tobias, AVAR: Evangelou