Olympiakos have a mountain to climb in the last 16 of the Champions League after going down 1-0 at home on Tuesday night to Bordeaux thanks to a first-half injury time goal from defender Michael Ciani.
Ciani lost his marker in the second minute of added time to head home a Yoann Gourcuff free-kick. It was the 300th goal that Olympiakos had conceded in 200 European matches.
Bordeaux were making their first appearance in the knockout stages of the Champions League but Olympiakos were not able to take advantage of the visiting side’s relative inexperience at this level of the tournament.
The best that the Reds could muster in the first-half was a Ieroklis Stoltidis header that was tipped over. It was one of the few attempts on goal by either side throughout the 90 minutes.
Despite winning their last five Champions League games at home, Olympiakos never looked like getting anything more than a draw from this game.
Their best play came just after 80 minutes of play when former Premier League strikers Matt Derbyshire – on as a second-half substitute – and Lomana Lua Lua combined but the latter saw his shot tipped around the post.
The two worked well again in injury time but Derbyshire was thwarted at the near post.
From the resulting corner, Lua Lua’s close-range header was saved and when the ball came back in the box, Enzo Maresca headed in but referee Howard Webb had already blown for a foul.
Derbyshire argued that he was the one who had been fouled but the referee was adamant there had been a push.
“We can turn this result around because we have lots of quality in the team,” said defender Avraam Papadopoulos.