Olympiakos beats Borussia for first Group F win
Olympiakos and coach Ernesto Valverde celebrated their first win in Champions League Group F on October 19 as the Greek champion powered past Germany?s Borussia Dortmund.
The Reds beat the German champions 3-1 to overtake Borussia and move into third place in their group behind Arsenal and Marseille.
In an open and entertaining game, Olympiakos was able to use the support of a fervent, 30,000-strong home crowd and its greater experience to good advantage.
The home side opened the scoring after just seven minutes when Ivan Marcano crossed from the left and found Jose Holebas, who outmuscled two defenders and planted a firm header past Roman Weidenfeller in the Borussia goal.
Olympiakos and Borussia traded chances before Polish striker Robert Lewandowski met a volley on the edge of the area and fired past Franco Costanzo to equalize for the visitors in the 26th minute.
Kevin Mirallas missed a couple of good chances for the home side before his good work on the right led to Rafik Djebbour putting Olympiakos back in front. The Algerian received the the ball in the penalty area, evaded his marker and fired home in the 40th minute.
Valverde said that Djebbour?s goal was the game?s turning point.
?Dortmund played a fast game and pressed high up the pitch but we were able to take control of the game in the second half,? said the Spaniard, who was celebrating his first ever win in the Champions League.
?We had to play a bit more defensively in the second half as Borussia created lots of problems for us in the first 45 minutes.?
Olympiakos continued to create chances in the second half. Defender Francois Modesto headed straight at the goalkeeper in the 62nd minute when unmarked at a freekick. Mirallas missed another great opportunity three minutes later as he failed to finish off a rapid counter-attack.
Modesto made amends for his miss on 77 minutes, when he flicked an Ariel Ibagaza freekick past Weidenfeller to seal the three points for the home side.
?We knew that if we were to lose today, we would be out of Europe,? said Valverde.
Instead, his side now has a great chance to continue its European journey, starting with the next game away to Borussia on November 1.
