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When Olympiacos come to town

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When Olympiacos come to town
When Olympiacos come to town
When Olympiacos come to town

Two weeks ago, Juventus.com delved into the archives to recount the last time we played Olympiacos, when a David Trezeguet-inspired Bianconeri registered an emphatic 7-0 victory in Turin during the 2003/04 Champions League campaign.

This time around, let’s take a closer look at the other three occasions when Greece’s most successful club side visited the Old Lady in Italy.

Juventus 2-0 Olympiacos, October 1967

Following a 0-0 draw in Greece a month earlier, two goals in either half ensured Heriberto Herrera’s troops ran out 2-0 winners in a European Cup Round of 16 second leg encounter at the Stadio Comunale in Turin.

Striker Gianfranco Zigoni got the ball rolling when he fired in after 12 minutes before Giampaolo Menichelli doubled the home side’s advantage 240 seconds after the restart.

Juventus then went on to dispose of Eintracht Braunschweig in the following round but came unstuck at the semi-final stage when a Eusebio-inspired Benfica won 3-0 on aggregate to book their place in the final of Europe’s elite competition.

Juventus 2-1 Olympiacos, March 1999

In the Bianconeri’s 1999 Champions League semi-final run, they faced an Olympiacos outfit who had advanced to the quarter-final stage having finished as winners of Group A.

Juventus started the meeting brightly and almost took the lead midway through the first half at the Stadio delle Alpi.

Daniel Fonseca drove at the opposition backline before firing across goal and after Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos had palmed his effort back into the danger area, Filippo Inzaghi’s follow up was miraculously blocked on the line by a barrage of bodies.

The opener soon arrived when Edgar Davids whipped in an inviting cross which was duly turned home on the volley by the lively Inzaghi eight minutes before the interval.

Olympiacos threatened early in the second-half but Juventus continued to boss proceedings as they went in search of that all-important second.

The Greek side’s resistance was finally broken when Zinedine Zidane expertly held up the ball before supplying the onrushing Antonio Conte, who took the pass in his stride and fired past the Greek shotstopper with 12 minutes to play.

Olympiacos were then awarded a penalty when Konstantinos Mendrinos was upended in the area, with Andreas Niniadis dispatching the subsequent spot-kick to bag an important away goal a minute from time.

In the away match two weeks later, the Bianconeri registered a 1-1 draw in Greece to advance to the semi-finals where they were beaten over two legs by eventual winners Manchester United.

Juventus 1-2 Olympiacos, December 1999

Carlo Ancelotti’s Bianconeri slipped to a 2-1 home reverse to the Greeks during a UEFA Cup Round of 16 match played at Palermo’s Stadio Renzo Barbera.

The hosts began the game in the best possible way, with Darko Kovacevic firing past Eleftheropoulos after only 60 seconds had elapsed.

Olympiacos were on level terms eight minutes before the break when Predrad Djordjevic’s exquisite long-range effort found the top corner of Michelangelo Rampulla’s goal.

Juventus went close to retaking the lead after the interval when Jonathan Bachini’s venomous free-kick smacked the crossbar with the goalkeeper well beaten.

Chances came and went for the home side as the second-half wore on and they were subsequently made to pay for those missed opportunities.

With nine minutes left on the referee’s watch, Paolo Montero fouled Djordjevic, who picked himself up before converting the resulting spot-kick for a smash-and-grab victory.

Regardless of the loss, the Bianconeri went through on 5-4 on aggregate but were then overcome at the quarter-final stage by Spanish outfit Celta Vigo in March 2000.

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