Olympiakos comes back to stun Montpellier
Costas Mitroglou scored a dramatic late winner as Greek champion Olympiakos overturned a 1-0 deficit at Montpellier on Wednesday to win 2-1 in the Champions League.
The Reds secured their first points in the group stage of the competition this year thanks to a spirited performance in the last half-hour of the game that erased the relatively poor showing of the first hour.
The result has taken Olympiakos to the third spot of the group with three points, two more than the French champion, but behind Schalke that has seven and Arsenal that is on six.
After a barren first half, Montpellier opened the score four minutes after the interval through Gaetan Charbonnier, who powered the ball home from inside the box after an apparent handball by his teammate John Utaka that the referee ignored.
Yet just as Olympiakos seemed destined for its fourth loss in its last five visits to France, a Jose Holebas freekick in the 73rd minute brought the ball to the penalty spot and captain Vassilis Torosidis controlled it and turned his body to volley it into the net of goalkeeper Laurent Pionnier for 1-1.
Montpellier reacted by pushing forward to snatch back the lead, but Olympiakos completed its comeback with a precious goal one minute into injury time.
A long ball by Holebas from the halfway line found Djamel Abdoun on the right flank. The Algerian shook off the challenge of a Montpellier defender and crossed the ball right into the path of substitute Mitroglou, who tapped the ball in with his left leg from close range.
“The goal we conceded served to wake us up,» admitted Torosidis, who stressed that coach Leonardo Jardim needs some time to show his work at the team, just like any manager.
Olympiakos will face Montpellier again on November 6, but this time in Piraeus.
