10-MAN PAFOS HOLD OLYMPIAKOS

Despite being a man down for more than half the match, Pafos FC’s defenders put on a show and held strong for a scoreless draw away to Olympiakos in their UEFA Champions League debut. Bruno Felipe was sent off just 25 minutes in for accumulating two yellow cards, but Pafos held strong, parked the bus, and got a result in Greece. Since Stadio Giorgos Karaiskakis reopened in 2004, it’s been a tough place to play even for the best of European clubs, and this is a result Pafos will be proud of. Pafos’s next Champions League action will be at home to Bayern Munich, the match will be held in Limassol.

Pafos FC visited Olympiakos at Stadio Giorgos Karaiskakis in Piraeus. Some early drama as Alexandros Paschalakis, in goal in place of Kostas Tzolakis, saw his clearing attempt hit his own Captain, Panagiotis Retsos, but the ball just went wide of the empty net. At the other end, Jaja went on a nice run, but his shot was straight at Paschalakis.

The match took an early turn as Bruno Felipe was sent off after a second yellow, putting Pafos down to 10 men. Olympiakos smelled blood in the water and from a corner, Rodinei fired off a shot that Joao Correia blocked, and he stayed down for a while. Then David Luiz, the great Brazilian veteran defender whose arrival created a lot of buzz for Pafos had to leave the match injured late in the first half, accompanied by a tactical change, he was replaced by Kostas Pileas, and Nany Dimata was replaced by Mislav Orsic.

Pafos despite being down a man, kept pushing, and Jaja did well to earn a free kick, but the ensuing free kick was headed over the net by David Goldar. As much as Olympiakos dominated possession in the first half, they failed to seriously threaten to score, not even getting a shot on target, and there was no score at halftime.

Olympiakos made a pair of halftime substitutions to get more aggressive, but Pafos continued to hold strong, it took until the hour mark for Olympiakos to attempt a shot, Daniel Podence shanked a volley well wide. Jaja tried to draw a penalty, but the referee was unmoved, and the contact was outside the box anyway. Podence let fly but Derrick Luckassen blocked it. Finally, Olympiakos got one on net, Retsos took a shot that Neofytos Michael awkwardly saved. The ensuing corner set up a more dangerous chance for Retsos, but Michael got to that one too.

Initially it looked like the numbers would even up, but VAR got a potential Mehdi Taremi red card downgraded to yellow. Orsic bent the free kick over the wall, but it just went over the net. Olympiakos went back to work trying to win the match, Francisco Ortega missed the net. Ayoub El Kaabi put a header on net, but it was an easy save for Michael. Christos Mouzakitis had a go, and Luckassen once again was there to block it for a corner.

In stoppage time, it looked like Olympiakos finally had it, but this time it was the Captain, David Goldar sprawling out to thwart Taremi. Retsos looped a cross in for Taremi, but he headed it over the net. That would be the last chance for the hosts, and Pafos FC hung on for a hard fought point in a scoreless draw.

Olympiakos(Jose Luis Mendilibar): 1. Alexandros Paschalakis(GK), 23. Rodinei(’61 20. Costinha), 45. Panagiotis Retsos(Captain), 5. Lorenzo Pirola(’75 4. Giulian Biancone), 3. Francisco Ortega, 14. Dani Garcia(’46 96. Christos Mouzakitis), 32. Santiago Hezze(’75 80. Stavros Pnevmonidis), 27. Gabriel Strefezza(’46 99. Mehdi Taremi), 22. Chiquinho, 56. Daniel Podence, 9. Ayoub El Kaabi

Pafos FC(Juan Carlos Carcedo): 93. Neofytos Michael(GK), 5. David Goldar(Captain), 4. David Luiz(’33 2. Kostas Pileas), 23. Derrick Luckassen, 7. Bruno Felipe, 30. Vlad Dragomir(’86 33. Anderson), 26. Ivan Sunjic, 88. Pepe, 77. Joao Correia(’76 25. Bruno Langa), 10. Nany Dimata(’33 17. Mislav Orsic), 11. Jaja(’76 12. Ken Sema)

Andrew Mantzas

Twitter: @MantzasNC