You wouldn’t blame Philippe Clement for rewarding himself with a wry smile after a gutsy 1-1 draw with Olympiacos.
Because you know you’re doing something right when Athens is plunged into full conspiracy mode. You see, there’s little in the way of praise for impressive Rangers midfield duo Connor Barron and Nicolas Raskin, in fact, there’s scant credit for Rangers in any facet after they disarmed the Conference League holders inside their imposing Piraeus lair.
In the eyes of the Greek media it wasn’t that Olympiacos were poor, nor Rangers impressive, no, this result was , in their eyes, the fault of the man in the middle – German referee Sascha Stegemann and his match officials. A shopping list length of complaints have been aired, however, many Olympiacos backers aren’t fooled by the bluster, sensing the hosts’ own shortcomings were the real hindrance. Record Sport takes a look at the unlikeliest of reactions to a game that almost passed without incident to neutral observers.
SportDay (Greece)
“The refereeing of the match was tragic and to a large extent determined the final result, being clearly biased in favour of the guests. Certainly an arbitration that is not consistent with the second-ranked European competition. More specifically, in the 11th minute, the assistant let the situation develop and while Dessers was clearly exposed, at least one metre behind the last defender of the “red and whites”, with Tzolakis repelling. A few minutes later, the first official…turned a blind eye to a clear yellow card on Sterling for a very hard tackle on Martins.
“In the 44th minute Diomande held Ese, the German indicated the advantage in the phase, but did not turn the phase back to give the foul once the possession was lost. In the second half, two more fouls in favour of the home team were not given by the German referee. Initially, in the 51st minute, Velde was knocked down by a player from the visitors and in the 74th minute, Bairami committed a clear foul on Rodenei in a counter-attack, but again it was not noticed by the referee. In addition, he did not give a clear yellow card shortly after for Ruskin’s marking on Velde. Finally, in the 87th minute, he did not give a foul in favour of Olympiakos in marking on Rodenei, a phase in fact that took place next to the second assistant.”
Sporttime (Greece)
“Olympiacos has forgotten to win . He doesn’t seem to have the way. Jose Luis Mendiliber has to find new ideas and solutions for his team to start getting results again. The situation experienced by Olympiacos and Mendiliber is not easy. The 1-1 draw with Rangers maintains an introversion in the Piraeus team. The Basque technician must again find solutions, pulling rabbits out of his hat. During the season, he managed to break the Gordian bond several times. When with internal player shifts.
“The presence of Olympiacos against Rangers was as if they were playing a Greek league match. Olympiacos didn’t make chances, couldn’t create, there was no player to move between the lines and create a phase. Transfers of the ball are slow, so the only way out is for Mendilibar to find a new threat.”
Ekathimerini (Greece)
“Thursday was a difficult day for Greek teams in Europe, with Olympiacos dropping two points at home to Rangers, while PAOK and Panathinaikos lost on the road. Olympiacos drew 1-1 wth Rangers in Piraeus for the Europa League, paying for its sole error in the game. The Reds went ahead on the 56th with Ayoub El Kaabi, but the Glasgow team equalised eight minutes later thanks to Cyriel Dessers. Olympiacos now has seven points from four games.”
SportLive (Greece)
“A night of mediocre results for Greek football has come to an end, with the only bright spot being Olympiakos’ draw with Rangers (1-1). Although this result seems welcome, the reality is that Jose Luis Mendiliber’s side have yet to secure their place in the next phase of the competition. They are currently in 11th place in the League Phase with seven points and are two points behind 8th Steaua Bucharest, who have 9 and will be Olympiakos’ next opponent.”