Olympiacos has moved up into the group stage of the Europa League after a close 2-2 draw against Slovan Bratislava on Thursday at Tehelné Pole.
The hosts had a big gap to close after being dealt a 3-0 loss back in Athens.
It was a game of cat and mouse, with Olympiacos’ star player Youssef El-Arabi kicking the first goal at 33 minutes.
The Slovakian front responded with its first play-offs goal again Olympiacos, scored by Ezekiel Henty just seven minutes later.
With a 1-1 tie, the Reds came back onto the field with a fire in their bellies, and thanks to a fantastic assist from Andreas Bouchalakis, Henry Onyekuru was able to score his maiden goal for the team nine minutes into the second half.
Similar to the first half, Bratislava were able to fire back just minutes later, with Andre Green bringing the score to a 2-2 tie.
Despite the draw, Olympiacos were the overall victors, progressing to the group stage of the Europa League with a 5-2 aggregate.
In another competition PAOK also left its mark, making it through to the Conference League group stages.
The boys in black and white were welcomed to Rujevica Stadium by Rijeka on Thursday for the second match of the play offs. It was anyone’s game after the teams tied 1-1 in their first match.
PAOK took an early stronghold of the match, as Omar El Kaddouri made up for his sixth minute missed goal in the 11th who took advantage of a slack Rijeka.
The Croatian front picked up its game in the middle of the first half, but missed the goals after a couple of good attempts.
The second half saw Rijeka drop its defensive guard as it tried to play some more offensively, which ultimately gave PAOK a great advantage.
João Escoval lost the ball for Rijeka in the 80th minute, giving Kagawa the chance to pass to Murg who pushed the ball into the goal bringing the final score to 2-0.