Olympiacos – Rangers 1-1: The Scots forced him, the German referee “blocked” him

The game ended without a winner in “G. Karaiskakis”, with Olympiakos and Rangers drawing 1-1, for the 4th matchday of the League Phase of the Europa League. The Red and Whites took the lead in the 56th minute through Ayoub El Kaabi, but the Scots equalized in the 64th minute through Dessers. The two teams got one point each and continue hand in hand in the standings with 7 points each in this year’s competition. Tragic refereeing by Sasha Stegeman, who turned a blind eye to clear fouls by the Scots.

The first half had few phases, with Olympiakos trying to break Rangers’ double defensive zone. The Scots, however, had closed the spaces very well towards Jack Butland’s goal. The visitors wanted to strike on the counter and succeeded twice, but Konstantis Tzolakis made great saves. In the 11th minute, Dessers came out four-four with the goalkeeper of Olympiakos and crossed from a lateral position, but the goalkeeper of Piraeus saved with his foot. Four minutes later, Černi made the turn from the right to Dessers, who shot from the height of the small area, but Tzolakis saved again.

Two out of two for the Olympiakos goalkeeper against Dessers. The Red and Whites responded to Rangers’ chances in the 34th minute with Gelson Martins. Cicinho countered, passed to Gelson Martins, who shot from a wide position, but the ball ended up on the outside of Jack Butland’s net. In the 42nd minute, Rodney found space and shot from outside the Rangers box, but the ball stopped on the bodies, with the first half ending at 0-0.

Before the start of the second half, Jose Luis Mediliber made his first change of the match, with Valde replacing Apostolopoulos. The Red and Whites came into the restart strongly and it took just 11 minutes to open the scoring with a superb goal from Ayoub El Kaabi. Mouzakitis made the cross from the right, Cicinho with a nice header-pass found El Kaabi and he turned and sent the ball into Butland’s net for 1-0!

El Kaabi with this goal reached 20 in European games with Olympiakos and caught Youssef El Arabi at the top of the list of players with the most European goals in the history of the Piraeus club. In the 59th minute, Olympiacos made it 2-0, but Chikinio’s shot went wide. The Portuguese was unlucky and in the 64th minute, Rangers equalized at 1-1 with a diagonal shot by Dessers, after a pass from Cerny. In the 75th minute, Mediliber brought on Pirola and Oliveira instead of Costinha and Ciquinho. In the 83rd minute, Zelson Martins found space and took the shot, but the ball went wide. Three minutes later, Vaskos completed his changes with Kostoulas instead of Mouzakitis.

THE KEY TO THE MATCH: Olympiacos opened the scoring in the 56th minute with El Kaabi and three minutes later came a breather from 2-0 with Chiquinhos, but the Portuguese was unlucky. The Scots “saved” it and in the 64th minute they equalized at 1-1.

CHANGE THE MATCH: El Kaabi proved once again that he is a great striker. When he was in a shooting position he did not let the opportunity go to waste and scored a historic goal.

WORST ON THE COURT: Hefte from the left had a lot of problems. He was the weak link in the Rangers defense.

THE REFEREE: Sasha Stegeman made too many mistakes. There were many moments in the game that favored the Scots, not giving clear fouls in favor of Piraeus. Undoubtedly, it was a tragic refereeing by the German referee.

VAR: Seren Storks did not need to intervene.

SCORER: 56′ El Kaabi – 64′ Desserts.

OPPONENTS NEXT COMPETITION:

Steaua Bucharest – Olympiacos (28/11)

Nice – Rangers (28/11).