Olympiacos Secure Narrow and Nervy 2-1 Victory Over Athens Kallithea | OneFootball

Olympiacos earned a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Athens Kallithea in their first home league match of the season, marking their second consecutive win in the Superleague. Thrylos showed strength, while Kallithea put up a strong fight.

Olympiacos began the game with intent, as Gelson Martins delivered a tantalizing pass into the area within the first six minutes, which was cleared by the Kallithea defense. For the first 11 minutes, Olympiacos controlled the tempo, but struggled to convert their dominance into goals.

The breakthrough came in the 14th minute when Kristoffer Velde unleashed a stunning right-footed strike from outside the box after a beautiful through ball by Francisco Ortega, putting the hosts 1-0 ahead. Velde, who had been pointed out last week for his lackluster performance in the premiere fixture against Volos, responded impressively with a crucial goal.

Olympiacos continued to press, with a notable combination play between Velde, Chiquinho and Gelson in the 26th minute leading to a blocked shot and a follow-up effort by the latter that sailed over the bar. Despite the pressure, the score remained 1-0 as the teams headed into the break.

Manager Jose Luis Mendilibar suffered a major blow at the start of the second half as he lost Santiago Hezze to an injury on 49 minutes and had to replace his star midfielder with Marko Stamenic. Things got worse at the hour-mark as Kallithea equalized when a corner-kick resulted in a deflection off the Olympiacos defense, which fell to Roberts Uldriķis. Uldriķis seized the opportunity, firing a shot past goalkeeper Kostas Tzolakis to level the score.

Olympiacos responded with three changes in the 68th minute, introducing Giorgos Masouras, Roman Yaremchuk and Dani García. The fresh legs soon made an impact in the 77th minute with a lethal cross from Stamenic. Ayoub El Kaabi's initial attempt was blocked, but Yaremchuk reacted quickly to score the decisive goal, putting Olympiacos back in front after a long and nervy VAR review as the linesman's flag initially went up for offside but replays showed there was no wrongdoing.

Despite maintaining a dominant possession rate of 61%, Olympiacos found themselves under pressure from their newly-promoted opponents, who managed to create two significant chances of their own. Olympiacos had 12 shots on target compared to Kallithea's 10, showing how intense the match really was. David Carmo watched the game from the stands after returning on loan from Nottingham Forest, who signed the star defender from Porto. And fans will be looking forward to Carmo's return as well as his reunion with Panos Retsos at centre-back as Lorenzo Pirola and Giulian Biancone struggled at times against Massimo Donati's frontline.

With this victory, Olympiacos move into second place in the Superleague table, level on points with PAOK at the top. Mendilibar's men will look to build on this performance as they prepare for their next trip to Lamia on August 31.