Victory in finale against RealMadrid was too little, too late
Olympiakos’s 2-1 win over a weakened Real Madrid Tuesday night was a case of too little, too late in this year’s Champions League. Rivaldo’s late goal gave the Greek side their first win in Group F but previous results had already consigned Olympiakos to the bottom spot. The win provided a mixture of relief and frustration for coach Trond Sollied. «Of course it was a relief to win, not just for me but for the whole club,» said Sollied. «But I have also said before that we have not received the points that we ought to have from this campaign and it is hard to take that we are no longer in Europe. The first game against Rosenborg set a bad pattern for us. Once we lost that, we seemed to carry the result with us in every game,» he added. Olympiakos lost the opening match against Sollied’s former club 3-1 in Piraeus. They gave up points in the last few minutes of three more of their matches, losing to late goals by Real in Spain and eventual group winners Lyon in France. Olympiakos appeared to have repaired some of the damage when they played Rosenborg for the second time. Rivaldo put the Greeks ahead and when Antonis Nikopolidis saved a penalty in the dying minutes, it seemed as though their luck had turned and they were about to record their first win away from home in 28 Champions League games. Instead, Thorstein Helstad slipped in to equalize for the Norwegians with two minutes left. Some of the Greek media spoke of a curse on Olympiakos, but Sollied, who replaced Dusan Bajevic in July because the club’s owners were anxious for European success, was not so fanciful. «This campaign has given us more experience,» he says. «Now we have to get back to the business of trying to win the Greek league so we can try again next year and that means hard work on the training field.» Real Madrid caretaker coach Juan Ramon Lopez Caro was both disappointed and satisfied after the 2-1 defeat. «First of all, I have to say I’m disappointed because Real Madrid is an ambitious club that always wants to win. Winning is an obligation,» said Lopez Caro, who was dropped into the job following Sunday’s sacking of Vanderlei Luxemburgo. «We played very well but you pay for your mistakes and we made too many of them.» Real had already reached the knockout stage behind Group F winners Olympique Lyon and, despite fielding an under-strength side, took an early lead through defender Sergio Ramos. But two goals in the second half from Erol Bulut and Rivaldo gave the Greek champions their first win in the Champions League this season. Lopez Caro nevertheless praised a team largely made up of fringe players and youngsters, after regulars like David Beckham, Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane and Roberto Carlos were rested.
