Freiburg toys with Olympiakos in Piraeus
Reds go down 3-0 at home in the Europa League, without a fight
Olympiakos suffered another crushing home defeat in Europe, after its 4-0 drabbing to Maccabi Haifa in the Champions League qualifiers, as on Thursday it went down 3-0 to German side Freiburg for the second round of group stage games in the Europa League.
This was a game the Greek champion had to win to maintain any hopes of topping its group to qualify automatically to the next round, after its 2-1 loss at Nantes last week. However the Germans led 2-0 from the first half to eliminate any hopes of points for the hosts in this game at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium.
It was Nikolas Hofler who opened the score for Freiburg from the fifth minute, and Michael Gregoritsch added a second on the 25th.
The visitors missed more chances to add to their tally, partly due to the heroics of Olympiakos keeper Tomas Vaclik, but they did find a third goal, again from Gregoritsch on the 52nd minute.
Freiburg then slowed down as it did not need any more goals, while Olympiakos was unable to create and chances and threaten the Germans.
The match ended amid jeering by the Olympiakos fans, who wonder whether coach Carlos Corberan, hired only last month, has any future on the Reds’ bench.
Olympiakos’ next game in the competition is again at home, against Qarabag of Azerbaijan on October 6.
