Olympiakos downs AC Milan 3-0 in friendly
Greek champion Olympiakos defeated Italy’s AC Milan 3-0 late on Thursday in a friendly match that launched the International Champions Cup in Canada and the US.
The result, with goals from Alejandro Dominguez, Dimitris Diamantakos and Andreas Bouchalakis, marked Milan coach Filippo Inzaghi’s first defeat in three friendlies since he took charge of the San Siro club.
He was without superstar Mario Balotelli, who wasn’t in uniform for the contest, even though he trained with the team in Toronto and earlier in the day tweeted his thanks that Major League Soccer club Toronto FC – whose BMO Stadium hosted the match – had presented him with a jersey.
Milan’s other star striker, Stephan El Shaarawy, looked sharp, even though his attempt to open the scoring flew straight to Olympiakos keeper Roberto.
So it was Argentine Dominguez who put Olympiakos ahead in the 16th minute, smartly controlling a ball from Dossevi with his chest and firing home a right-footed shot that saw the Greek club take a 1-0 lead into half-time.
Diamantakos made it 2-0 in the 49th minute, and Bouchalakis capped the scoring in the 78th with a superb blast from outside the box into the top left corner of the net.
Olympiakos will now head west to take on Liverpool at Chicago’s Soldier Field.
The match is part of the International Champions Cup, a collection of pre-season matches featuring eight European clubs all preparing for the start of their domestic campaigns.
[AFP]
