It is an historic moment for Olympiacos as they qualified for their first ever semi-finals of a UEFA competition after overcoming Fenerbahce in a dramatic penalty shoot-out, with young goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis making three saves to prove the difference.
The Piraeus giants advanced to the final four of the Europa Conference League (ECL) on Friday morning (AEST) after winning 3-2 on penalties following a 1-0 loss to Fenerbahce away (3-3 on aggregate).
The Turkish outfit brought the tie back on level terms in the 11th minute through winger Irfan Kahveci, who finished the ball into the right side of the net.
This proved to be the only goal for the entire game, including extra time, with the only other notable highlight being Olympiacos defender Andreas Ntoi’s second yellow send-off in the 120+3rd minute.
The tie went to penalties and it started well for the “red-whites” as striker Ayoub El Kaabi converted his spot-kick, which was then followed by Tzolakis saving Fenerbahce forward Dusan Tadic’s effort into the bottom right.
Olympiacos marksman Youssef El Arabi tried to make it 2-0 in the shoot-out, but his effort was saved by goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic whose teammate Michy Batshuayi then managed to score to make it 1-1.
The Piraeus side regained the advantage from the third set of penalties, with Andre Horta scoring his attempt and Fenerbahce winger Cengiz Under having his saved by Tzolakis in the bottom right.
Forward Georgios Masouras converted his spot-kick to keep the Greek club ahead, with Alexander Djiku managing to score his kick to give Fenerbahce one last chance to get back into the shoot-out.
A bizarre thing happened when defender Rodinei stepped up to the penalty spot as the Brazilian had his effort deflect upwards off the hand of the outstretched Livakovic in the bottom left, with the ball hitting the underside of the crossbar and bouncing on the goal line but not over it.
The shot counted as a miss and gave Fenerbahce one final opportunity to keep their European campaign alive, but Tzolakis intervened again as he dived once more to the bottom right to save Italian defender Leonardo Bonucci’s shot.
The shoot-out victory means Olympiacos has qualified for the first time in club history to the semi-finals of a European competition, with it also being the first time since 1996 that a Greek side has made it to the final four in a European club tournament.
The “red-whites” will now face English Premier League outfit Aston Villa as they bid to qualify for the ECL Final, which will be played at AEK’s home of “Agia Sophia” Stadium.
While it was elation for the Piraeus giants, it was heartbreak for PAOK as they lost 0-2 at “Toumba” Stadium to Club Brugge (0-3 on aggregate), bowing out of the ECL as a result.
The Belgians earned the win, courtesy of a first half brace from striker Ferran Jutgla.
The Spaniard opened the scoring with a strike in the 33rd minute before closing out the opening period with a poacher’s finish, pouncing on the rebound after a save by goalkeeper Dominik Kotarski to essentially send his club to the semi-finals.
It is a disappointing conclusion to an otherwise commendable campaign in the ECL for PAOK, whose attention is now set completely on winning the league title.
