goalkeeper Roberto helped earn his side a 1-0 win over Juventus
on Wednesday.
With the Greek side leading thanks to Pajtim Kasami's first-half
goal at the Karaiskakis Stadium in this Champions League Group
A encounter, Spaniard Roberto produced a string of superb
saves after the interval to ensure they claimed all three points.
In the space of 15 minutes midway through the second period,
he made remarkable stops to deny Alvaro Morata, Paul Pogba
and Carlos Tevez on what was a frustrating night for
Massimiliano Allegri's men.
Former Fulham man Kasami had earlier struck a low finish into
the bottom left-hand corner as Olympiakos continued their
strong recent run of results at home on Europe's biggest club
stage.
Over the past 12 months, Olympiakos have beaten Benfica,
Anderlecht, Manchester United and Atletico Madrid on their ow
soil, and this result against the Italian champions represented
their fifth consecutive home victory in the Champions League.
Juve, who dropped points in Serie A for the first time this season
on Saturday with a 1-1 draw at Sassuolo, had Chile international
Arturo Vidal back in the side after he was rested at the weekend,
but the midfielder failed to have a telling impact as Olympiakos
held on to move onto six points at the halfway stage in the
group - three more than Juventus.The hosts made a bright start,
Kostas Mitroglou flicking a half-chance wide before Alejandro
Dominguez brought a flying save out of Gianluigi Buffon with a
free-kick in the opening seven minutes.
Juve went close themselves five minutes later as Tevez's stabbed
effort was headed off the line by Omar Elabdellaoui as
Olympiakos failed to deal with Andrea Pirlo's corner.
Tevez did have the ball in the net in the 20th minute, but his
header was rightly disallowed for offside as the hosts showed
further hesitancy from a Pirlo set-piece.
The game continued to ebb and flow, and a superb touch and
volley from Dominguez flashed across the face of goal in the
27th minute.
Ten minutes before the break, Olympiakos opened the scoring
with a well-worked goal.
Dominguez led the break and played the ball to Mitroglou, who
laid a pass back into Kasami for the midfielder to fire left-
footed beyond Buffon from the edge of the penalty area.
Morata went close with a left-footed volley six minutes after the
interval.
Kasami should have doubled his and Olympiakos' tally on the
hour mark, but he rolled the ball wide from six yards after being
teed up by the influential Dominguez.
Juve almost took advantage of that miss five minutes later, but
Roberto brilliantly parried Morata's thumping effort from eight
yards.
Roberto performed heroics once more as the game entered the
final quarter of an hour, clawing away Pogba's cross before
keeping out Tevez's close-range effort with his legs.
With nine minutes remaining, he pulled off another outstanding
save, reacting sharply to tip Morata's fierce drive onto the
crossbar as Juve continued to press hard for an equaliser.
But a leveller did not arrive as the Greek side held on for a
battling victory that puts them in pole position to qualify for the
knockout stages.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.
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