Olympiakos eliminated Fenerbahçe on penalties in an intriguing match of the 1/4-finals of the Conference League. Thus, the Greek team qualified for the semifinals of a European club tournament for the first time in its history, Topsport reported.
Regular time and overtime of the match in Istanbul ended with a score of 1:0 for the "Lanterns", thus the total score of the two matches became 3:3. In the penalty shootout, the "red-white" were more accurate and lost 3:2.
The result of "Syukru Saracoglu" opened Irfan Can Kahveji, who mastered the ball perfectly on the border of the penalty area, passing Sebastian Szymanski and sent the ball into the net of the Greeks with a wonderful shot for 1:0.
In stoppage time of the first half, Szymanski collapsed in the Olympiakos penalty area, and the situation was reviewed by VAR and it was deemed that there were no grounds to award a penalty.
In the final ten minutes of the match, the two teams exchanged one good position each. In the 81st minute, Dominik Livakovic saved a shot by Yorgos Masouras, and in the counter attack Michy Batshuayi's goal was disallowed due to offside.
By the end of the match, both teams decided not to take much risk, with the overall result tied.
So the match went into overtime. In the 103rd minute, Olympiakos hit the post. After a cross from Konstantinos Fortunis, the ball reached Vicente Iborra, who headed home. Livaković touched the ball and then it hit his right side post. The danger remained in front of the home team's goal, but David Karmo's header was cleared in front of the goal line by Alexandre Djiku, also with a header.
Fenerbahce had their chance in the 114th minute when Dusan Tadic intercepted Miha Zaits's low pass but sent the ball over Konstantinos Tsolakis' goal.
Olympiakos was left with ten men on the pitch after Andreas Ntoi was sent off with a second yellow card in stoppage time of the second overtime.
Until the end of extra time, no goals were scored and so the match had to be decided by penalties, where the two goalkeepers came out under the spotlight.
Dominik Livakovic showed his class and saved two shots from the penalty spot, but the night belonged to the young Konstantinos Tsolakis, who saved 3 of the Turkish team's penalties and thus secured the Greek team's qualification for the semi-finals.
Olympiakos' opponent there will be Aston Villa, who eliminated Lille also after a penalty shootout.