Real Sociedad 1 -
Olympiakos 0
Real Sociedad:
Westerveld; López Rekarte, Schürrer, Jauregi, Aranzábal;
Karpin, Xabi Alonso, Aranburu, Barkero (Lee Chun Soo 61'); Kovacevic, De Paula
(Nihat 61'). 4-4-2. Olympiakos: Katergiannakis; Kafes (Gonias 82'),
Venetidis, Stoltidis, Karembeu; Mavrogenidis (Pantos 75'), Kostoulas,
Georgiadis, Anatolakis; Djordjevic, Giovanni (Choutos 65'). 4-4-2.
Goals: 1-0. 80.
Kovacevic (penalty). After player himself brought down by Kostoulas.
Real Sociedad rounded off a
good first day for Spanish clubs with a victory in their first ever match in
the Champions League. However their opponents Olympiakos put up a good fight,
and in the end it took a late penalty from Kovacevic to take the three points.
Denoueix decided in the end not to risk Nihat or Lee Chun Soo in his starting
line up as both were just back from injuries, and they began the game on the
bench. The big surprise though was that De Pedro was left out of the squad
altogether, fuelling more rumours over the bad relations between the Spanish
winger and his manager.
Real looked nervous at the
start in their new black strip, and the nippy Djordjevic gave the home fans a
fright early on. And it was not until a minute before half time that the Basque
side had their first real effort on target, Katergiannis just managing to
scramble the ball away for a corner from a powerful Kovacevic header. The
introduction of Nihat and Lee Chun Soo on the hour mark changed things though,
and the Turkish forward in particular proved to be a nightmare for the local
defence.
Then with ten minutes to go
Kostoulas chopped down Kovacevic in the area, and the Serbian striker stepped
up to score the winning goal from the penalty spot. Not the best of
performances, but it was the result that counted and Real can go on to their
next match against Galatasaray with more confidence now their first game is out
of the way. |