Melbourne Victory suffered a 4-1 loss to a classy Olympiacos side in a friendly at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.
Melbourne Victory suffered a 4-1 loss to a classy Olympiacos side in a friendly at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.
The visiting Greek league and cup champions netted three times in the first half, with Ioannis Fetfatzidis impressive.
The winger scored once and set up David Fuster’s 10th-minute opener, while Petar Franjic’s own-goal gave Olympiacos a 3-0 lead before the half-hour mark.
Archie Thompson pulled a goal back for the Victory from the penalty spot, and despite an improved second half, Ange Postecoglou’s team conceded a fourth when Fuster struck his second in the 89th minute.
After the hosts threatened with a neat passing move from kick-off, Olympiacos had the better of the early chances.
Fuster blazed over and then forced goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas into a diving save, before Olof Mellberg also went close with a header.
Ernesto Valverde’s side got their opener on 10 minutes, with Fuster getting on the end of a lovely Fetfatzidis pass before rounding Thomas and placing into an open goal.
Danny Allsopp had Victory’s first shot on goal, firing a hopeful effort wide from 20 yards.
The lively Fetfatzidis doubled the lead for Olympiacos in the 23rd minute, heading in a cross from the left from Kevin Mirallas.
Olympiacos pushed and got a deserved third in the 25th minute, as Djebbour turned two markers and squared for Franjic to divert into his own net as he tried to clear.
Victory pulled a goal back when Allsopp played a perfectly weighted pass through to Thompson, who was fouled by Jose Cholevas as he shaped to shoot inside the area.
Thompson stepped up to take the spot-kick, sending Balazs Megyeri the wrong way to make it 3-1.
Thomas made a strong save to deny Djebbour before Thompson found his way behind the Olympiacos defence after a pass from Leigh Broxham, but Megyeri got down to thwart the Socceroos striker.
Olympiacos made a host of chances at the break and Victory resumed the better side.
Matthew Kemp’s cross from the right saw Thompson, who roamed across the attacking line all night, side-foot a shot into the side netting.
Julius Davies, introduced on 53 minutes, tested substitute goalkeeper Roy Carroll from distance, before the former Manchester United shot-stopper was called into action with a quarter of an hour to play.
Carroll parried an Allsopp free-kick, and Thompson, fastest to react, struck the rebound wide.
Substitute striker Damir Lokvancic put a chance wide in the 82nd minute, and Olympiacos struck with the final chance of the game.
An under-hit Thomas pass was intercepted, with Fuster eventually finishing when he chipped the stranded goalkeeper to complete his brace.
Melbourne Victory 1 (Archie Thompson 29′(pen))
Olympiacos 4 (David Fuster 10’88’, Ioannis Fetfatzidis 22′, Petar Franjic 25′(og))
Crowd: 16,879 @ Etihad Stadium
