olympiacos off to a flyer published: wednesday 29 july 2009, 22.45cet šk slovan bratislava 0-2 olympiacos cfp the greek champions hit the ground running as early goals from avraam papadopoulos and leonardo secured victory in slovakia.
by miroslav antol
olympiacos cfp made the perfect start to their latest european campaign by scoring twice inside the opening quarter to earn a 2-0 victory at šk slovan bratislava. new coach temuri ketsbaia's side must now be considered overwhelming favourites to progress after taking control of this uefa champions league third qualifying round tie through early goals by avraam papadopoulos and leonardo.
back of the net it took the greek champions just 65 seconds to open the scoring at the tehelné pole stadium in bratislava, papadopoulos heading home from jaouad zairi's corner. slovan responded with a positive passage of play but to no avail and in the 21st minute they fell further behind. when martin dobrotka lost the ball, konstantinos mitroglou played in leonardo who found the back of the net. "today we dominated against a very good side so i have to be satisfied," said ketsbaia, after his first competitive match in charge.
uhrin disappointed olympiacos could have extended their advantage but were foiled by a combination of david bičík's good goalkeeping and the woodwork, which denied second-half substitute enzo maresca. even when the visitors sat back they still posed a threat on the counter while limiting the slovakian titleholders to just a couple of opportunities after the interval. home coach dušan uhrin lamented his side's efforts at both ends when he said afterwards: "the first goal in the second minute was very important, we then conceded another one not long after as well. after the break i think we were better team but we can't win unless we score goals."
