Reeling from their maiden defeat of the 2019/2020 Super League season against PAOK at the weekend, Olympiacos needed to produce the goods in Heraklion, and they stepped up to the plate with a 3-1 victory.

Kostas Fortounis opened the scoring with a penalty, before the same player grabbed his second in the 61st minute. Lazar Randjelovic had doubled Olympiacos’ lead at the end of the first half.

Panagiotis Deligiannidis snatched a consolation for OFI in stoppage time.

OFI are now condemned to finishing in last place of the playoff standings.

On Sunday, OFI will play against Panathinaikos at the Olympic Stadium, while Olympiacos will face AEK in Piraeus.

THE MATCH

As champions of Greece, Olympiacos received a guard of honour from OFI before the match started, a tradition used across Europe when a team has prematurely won the domestic league.

OFI promptly handed Olympiacos a gift in the 10th minute as Giorgos Koutroubis was punished for a push in the box. Stepping up to the mark, Fortounis made no mistake from the spot, calmly stroking the ball into the left corner beyond the goalkeeper.

Dominating the match, Olympiacos practically put the game out of sight in the 28th minute, as Randjelovic fired his effort under Oscar Whalley when alone on the right flank with the visitors on the counter.

The Erythrolefki well and truly ended the match as a contest with 61 minutes on the clock.

Bursting past the OFI defence, Fortounis cut to a shooting position, before he unleashed an unstoppable rocket which gave Whalley no chance.

In the fifth minute of injury time, Deligiannidis did get OFI on the board as he beat substitute goalkeeper Ilias Karagyris, but it made little difference to the outcome.

THE TEAMS

OFI: Whalley, Korovesis, Vafeas (Giannoulis 46’), Koutroubis, Marinakis, Deligiannidis, Sakor (Vaz 46’), Staikos (Sournakis 71’), Joao Victor (Nastos 80’), Nabi (Brawn 85’), Nikokyrakis.

Olympiacos: Allain (Karagyris 87’), Torosidis, Ba, Papadopoulos, Bruno Gaspar (Martinis 88’), Bouchalakis, Cafu, Lovera (Sourlis 88’), Fortounis, Randjelovic, Hassan (El Arabi 26’, Bruno 80’).

credits: www.agonasport.com