Late winner sends Eintracht through | OneFootball

Jens Petter Hauge’s stoppage-time goal earned Eintracht a 2-1 win at Olympiacos and sealed their place in the Europa League round of 32.

The Eintracht line-up showed no fewer than five changes from Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Leipzig as Makoto Hasebe, Timothy Chandler, Kristijan Jakic, Aymen Barkok and Sam Lammers were all recalled to the side. Erik Durm was a late dropout due to illness along with Filip Kostic and Ajdin Hrustic, who missed the trip to Piraeus with knocks, while Martin Hinteregger and Almamy Toure dropped to the bench.

Swift response

At a raucous Karaiskaki Stadium, Olympiacos took the lead with the first chance of the match on 12 minutes. Henry Onyekuru raced down the left wing and cut the ball back for the onrushing Youssef El-Arabi, who smashed it home from close range. Eintracht were level again just five minutes later, though, Daichi Kamada dinking the ball past goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik after running onto a sublime through ball from Rafael Borré.

The contest became rather niggly at that point, with the tackles getting harder and the noise from the stands increasing. The hosts then upped the pressure again towards the end of the first half and Eintracht were grateful to Kevin Trapp, who denied Giorgos Masouras (36’) and Mady Camara (39’) with a couple of big saves to keep it 1-1 at the break.

Eagles snatch victory

The second half continued in a similar vein, with Olympiacos having the lion’s share of the possession and Eintracht keeping it tight and looking for their opportunities in transition. In the 57th minute, the dangerous Onyekuru picked up the ball just inside the area but fired wide of the target.

At the other end of the pitch, substitute Jesper Lindström forced a smart save from Vaclik with one of the few openings the Eagles were able to create. It only took one for them to snatch the three points though, when Lindström broke through down the left flank and his low cross found fellow substitute Hauge via a deflection, and he swept it in to spark ecstatic celebrations in front of the 1,200 travelling supporters (90+2’).

Summary: Efficient Eagles

It looked like Eintracht were going to settle for a point in Greece after a game in which they had to withstand a fair amount of pressure from the hosts as well as a hostile atmosphere, but Glasner’s men took their chance late on and are now guaranteed at least second place in Group D, with top spot very much in their hands.

SGE line-up

Trapp – Tuta, Hasebe, Ndicka – Chandler, Sow (Ilsanker 82’), Jakic (Rode 78’), Barkok (Toure 58’) – Kamada – Borré (Hauge 78’), Lammers (Lindström 58’)

Goals

1-0 El Arabi (12’) 1-1 Kamada (17’) 1-2 Hauge (90+2’)