Reds and Greens crash out of Europe
The European season has ended for Greek teams as Olympiakos and Panathinaikos bowed out of the Europa League and the Conference League respectively on Thursday.
Olympiakos beat Bodo Glimt 2-1 at home on the night but went out of Europe having lost 3-0 in the first leg in Norway.
Bodo Glimt opened the score in Piraeus on the 36th with Kasper Hogh, scorer of two goals in the first match a week earlier.
Two half-time substitutions made the difference in the second half for Olympiakoas, though: Christos Mouzakitis fed Roman Yaremchuk who equalized on the 53rd to bring the tie back to life.
Nine minutes later Olympiakos earned a penalty that Rodinei took but Bodo Glimt keeper Nikita Haykin saved. The Russian goallie could do nothing on the 65th though, as once again Mouzakitis set up Yaremchuk who made it 2-1.
The Reds upped their pressure, but a Bodo Glimt counter was stopped with a foul by Olympiakos keeper Kostantis Tzolakis who received a straight red at the start of time added on. Defender Panagiotis Retsos put the gloves on, but there was no more drama in the game.
Olympiakos may have been eliminated, but this victory means that if it wins the Greek league it will likely go straight to the league phase of next season’s Champions League.
Panathinaikos was unable to defend its 3-2 home win in Italy and went down 3-1 at Fiorentina.
The Greens had a miserable first half, that ended 2-0 in the Italians’ favor, goals coming from Rolando Mandragora on the 12th and Albert Gudmundsson on the 24th. The Greeks’ keeper, Bartlomiej Dragowski, prevented any more Fiorentina goals.
The introduction of Fotis Ioannidis changed the flow of the game in the second half, with revitalized Panathinaikos putting pressure on the hosts and missing chances, only to concede a third goal by Moise Kean in Fiorentina’s first chance after the interval.
Even so, Panathinaikos fought on and got a penalty on the 80th minute that Ioannidis converted to set up a tense finish. In injury time Filip Mladenovic saw his second yellow card to leave the Greens with 10.
Kathimerini
