Champions League

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.