Olympiakos 3-4 Real Madrid
Seeking their first win in Greece, Real Madrid faced Olympiakos in need of a reaction, and their star players certainly showed up. After Xabi Alonso spent Tuesday evening fielding questions about his relationship with the dressing room, the victory will serve to sooth the discontent, but not dispel it.
The opening stanza of the match did not have that appearance though. Los Blancos came out sloppy and slack, allowing Jose Luis Mendilibar’s men to make progress through the middle of the pitch. A nice interchange on the edge of the Real Madrid box provided space for Chiquinho to whip the ball into the near post, with the Real Madrid midfield looking awkward. Andriy Lunin, who could do little about the opener, was forced into another good save before Real Madrid woke up.
Olympiacos - Real Madrid
Image via LaPresse
It was a magical pass from Vinicius Junior that changed the match. The man most commonly accused of not warming to Alonso played a parabolic pass into the path of Kylian Mbappe and behind the Olympiakos defence from his own half, which Mbappe finished with ease. Two minutes later, it was Arda Guler with the assist, clipping a cross into the middle of the box for Mbappe to rise high and head down. Just seven minutes passed between Mbappe’s first and his hat-trick goal. Beating the offside trap, Eduardo Camavinga was the luminary behind an excellent pass this time, which Mbappe controlled and finished with ease.
At this point, Los Blancos had 15 minutes left in the half, and were looking hungry. Vinicius was unlucky to see a wedged effort find the roof of the net, and for an earlier offside, was denied a beautiful strike from the left corner of the Olympiakos box. Mendilibar’s side did just about recover in time to force Lunin into another excellent save, with Mohamed El Kaabi losing Alvaro Carreras in the box, filling in for the injured Dean Huijsen.
Real Madrid narrowly avoid dramatic comeback
Kylian Mbappe and Real Madrid celebrate a dramatic win.
Image via LaPresse
With the referee’s whistle, the carousel of chances resumed, much to the delight of the neutral. Vinicius again snuck an effort almost miraculously past the post rather than inside it, and six minutes later, he danced through three defenders, only to find Konstantinos Tzolakis in the Olympiakos goal at his feet. Between those chances, Olympiakos had gotten themselves back into though, with Santiago Heza’s curling first-time cross finding Medhi Taremi towering above the Real Madrid defence.
Just as it looked as if Olympiakos might be back in it, Mbappe grabbed his fourth, courtesy of the insatiable Vinicius. The Brazilian entranced Panagiotis Retsos on his way to the by-line, and Mbappe toed his cutback into the net in the six-yard box.
Taremi brings Olympiakos back.
Image via LaPresse
That looked as if it had settled the game, but as the game drifted into the final stages, an Ayoub El Kaabi header, unmarked again in the box, found the back of the net. Reinvigorated, both Olympiakos and the crowd returned, with El Kaabi and Taremi firing narrowly wide in the last 10 minutes. Real Madrid were hounded for the final stages, but managed to move out the way of a sting in the tail.
Los Blancos managed to end their three-game winning streak, and arguably did so with their most exciting offensive performance of the year. Vinicius and Mbappe, with his quartet of goals, were at times impossible to contain. That was coupled with a side lacking control throughout though, and unable to shore up at the back. Although that was in no small part down to the fact that they were missing some players, Alonso will be abundantly aware that the performance is unlucky to weaken the glare focused on him from the Madrid press.