Belluschi delights Reds fans

Olympiakos extends the contract of midfelder Predrag Djordjevic for one more year

Some 2,500 Olympiakos fans turned up at the soccer club’s training center to see their team play a friendly match with second-division side Ilissiakos. The reason for the high turnout was that the game featured new signing Fernando Belluschi, wearing the champions’ jersey for the first time.

Olympiakos won 2-1, but this was of minor importance compared to the performance of the Argentine midfielder who dazzled the crowd for the 90 minutes he played. His performance makes him a candidate for the starting lineup on Sunday when Olympiakos plays Aris in Piraeus. Such was the enthusiasm of Olympiakos fans for Belluschi that at the end of the game, they stormed the pitch to get autographs from him. Separately, captain Predrag Djordjevic extended his contract up to 2009.

Across the capital, Panathinaikos slapped Dimitris Papadopoulos with a fine of 15,000 euros for arguing with coach Jose Peseiro on Sunday. Although Peseiro had reportedly ruled him out of matches with the team for the rest of the season, the club announced Papadopoulos will be back in training as of today.

In another development intended to calm things down at Panathinaikos, the press conference scheduled for tomorrow by the group “Unifying Movement of Panathinaikos,” led by top banker Andreas Vgenopoulos, has been postponed for fear of a possibly violent fan rally also planned by the movement’s supporters tomorrow. Hardcore Panathinaikos fans oppose the administrative policies of owner Yiannis Vardinoyiannis and have adopted the cause of Vgenopoulos to have others participate on the soccer club’s board as well.

As the end of the transfer period approaches, teams are rushing to bolster their squads. Veria announced the signing of Brazilian Marcio Fabiano Giovanini and Larissa is close to buying Fenerbahce’s Tumer Metin.