bordeaux fightback flattens panionios published: thursday 20 december 2007, 0.53cet panionios gss 2-3 fc girondins de bordeaux wielfried moimbe struck a late winner as panionios threw away a 2-0 lead and, with it, a last-32 place.
panionios gss threw away a place in the uefa cup round of 32 after they surrendered a two-goal lead in a 3-2 home defeat by group h winners fc girondins de bordeaux.
pipped by galatasary even at 2-2 panionios were through, but substitute wielfried moimbe's 87th-minute strike for bordeaux meant the hosts were pipped to third place in the group by galatasaray as – goal difference determining the turkish side's progress after the teams finished level on four points.
early goals bordeaux, who topped the pool with four wins out of four, went into the game with qualification assured and their much-changed lineup began poorly. rafik djebbour opened the scoring from the penalty spot after just six minutes, after he had been fouled in the box by bruno manga. by the 20th minute the greek club had a second goal when grigorios makos executed a superb volley from outside the area.
cavenaghi double makos forced another save from mathieu valverde but a strike from pierre ducasse at the other end showed that laurent blanc's side had not come to greece to lie down. that became only too evident when fernando cavenaghi reduced arrears with a right-foot shot from distance. early in the second half cavenaghi had another effort blocked by marcello pletsch, before the french team were rewarded for their continued probing of the panionios defence when benoît tremoulinas set up the argentinian no9 to score his second in the 75th minute.
fate sealed with galatasaray drawing with fk austria wien, panionios still held the upper hand, however, and they threatened to reclaim their advantage as pletsch was foiled by valverde and sékou berthé headed another attempt wide. but then came the killer blow for ewald lienen's men as cavenaghi's effort was parried by miroslav könig and moimbe netted the rebound from close range. when makos missed with a late shot, panionios's fate was sealed.
