Tragedy mars Olympiakos’s win on Rhodes
Olympiakos advanced to the fifth round of the Greek Cup after beating Diagoras 2-3 in Rhodes yesterday, but the game was overshadowed by the death of a Diagoras player a few hours before kickoff. Midfielder Yiannis Koskiniatis, 25, jumped off a cliff yesterday afternoon and was confirmed dead by Rhodes police. The host’s players had not known of their colleague’s fate until the 77th minute of the game when the lights went out at the ground, with the score at 2-2. They reportedly burst into tears, but eventually composed themselves and continued the game shortly after the lights came back on. Spanish midfielder Oscar Gonzalez put Olympiakos in front after 13 minutes with a header that Diagoras goalkeeper Markos Vellidis got a hand to but could not stop. However, Cameroonian midfielder Guy Feutchine fed Tasos Triantafyllou, who equalized for Diagoras in the 30th minute as the Olympiakos defense was caught half-asleep. Triantafyllou headed in his second goal in the 66th minute but one minute later Brazilian striker Diogo drew Olympiakos level with a left-foot volley after a Sebastian Leto pass. When the game was restarted, Darko Kovacevic headed in a Leto free kick in the 84th minute to give Olympiakos the 2-3 victory. Four other Super League sides booked their place in the fifth round. Larissa and Panionios yesterday followed PAOK and Panthrakikos, who had qualified from Tuesday. Larissa defeated third-division club Panetolikos 0-2 in Agrinio, while Panionios beat Ethnikos away by the same score. Panetolikos managed to hold Larissa to a 0-0 draw up to the 77th minute and could have even gone ahead with the chances they created. In the end though, the more experienced Super League side opened the scoring with Facundo Parra from a Nolberto Solano cross after 77 minutes. They doubled their lead three minutes later as Parra had a one-two with Maciej Zurawski and scored his second. On the back of their successive league wins, Panionios put on another impressive display to beat Ethnikos. The second-division side had a goal controversially disallowed early in the game, but Bernard Kumordzi gave Panionios the lead with a header in the 41st minute. Giorgos Barkoglou made it 0-2 in the 75th minute thanks to a personal effort that undid the Ethnikos defense. On Tuesday Ibrahima Bakayoko scored twice to give PAOK a 2-1 win at third-division Makedonikos, while Panthrakikos needed extra time to beat third-division Zakynthos 2-0 away. This afternoon Apollon Kalamarias greets Asteras Tripolis. The other Round 4 fixtures will be played November 11-13.
