Dortmund defeat Olympiakos to stay alive
Reuters - Tuesday 01 November 2011, 22:57
Borussia Dortmund beat
Olympiakos Piraeus 1-0 with a first-half goal from Kevin
Grosskreutz on Tuesday to give themselves a Champions League
lifeline and move up to third spot in Group F.
The Germany international stunned the visitors after seven
minutes, rifling in from 22 metres for Dortmund's first
Champions League win of the season which kept them in the
running for a spot in the knockout stage.
The Greeks, needing at least a draw to seriously remain in
contention for a top-two finish, battled hard but created few
clear chances and it was Dortmund who could have scored again
when Robert Lewandowski hit the post on the hour.
The result lifted the Bundesliga champions above the Greeks,
into third place on four points from four games with Arsenal and
Olympique Marseille leading the group on eight and seven points
respectively following their 0-0 draw in London.
"There was a bit of luck in the game for us," said Dortmund
coach Jurgen Klopp, whose team travel to Arsenal next. "We
started well but then our holding midfielders became a bit too
attack-minded. But at the end of the day we deserved to win."
Olympiakos are on three and now need to win their last two
matches to have any chance of advancing past the group stage.
Dortmund had described the game as a "final" and were eager
to make amends for their 3-1 defeat in Athens last month.
They put the visitors on the back foot from the start with
Ivan Perisic picking up a Lewandowski pass and firing just over
the bar from inside the box after three minutes.
GROSSKREUTZ MISSILE
Grosskreutz, who had missed earlier, did it better four
minutes later with Mario Gotze drawing two players on him and
then laying the ball off for the midfielder who unleashed a
blistering drive that left Olympiakos keeper Balasz Megyeri no
chance on his Champions League debut.
The visitors gradually recovered and then threatened with a
close-range effort from Francois Modesto and were unlucky not to
be awarded a penalty for a handball by Dortmund central
defender Mats Hummels just before the break.
In the second half, Olympiakos picked up where they had left
off with Germany-born Jose Holebas testing Dortmund keeper Roman
Weidenfeller with a powerful drive two minutes after the
restart.
Dortmund could have added another goal with Lewandowski
profiting from a bad Holebas back pass to beat Megyeri to the
ball but hitting the post from a tight angle after an hour.
The Greeks almost snatched a last-gasp draw when Olof
Mellberg was left unmarked in the box deep in stoppage-time but
headed over the bar.
"It was a divided game. We had our chances and we had them
until the very last minute but we did not manage to score,"
Olympiakos coach Ernesto Valverde told reporters. "In the end we
could not get the result we wanted and the early goal did not
help."