CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PLAYER RATINGS | Olympiacos 0-2 Bayer Leverkusen – Patrik Schick doubles gives Leverkusen a deserved lead in the tie

Bayer Leverkusen’s Champions League knockout play-off round this season produced a tricky tie with Greek champions Olympiacos, thanks to finishing 16th in the league phase, Die Werkself would travel to Piraeus for the first leg, before returning to the BayArena for the return leg next week.

Curiously, this exact fixture took place less than a month ago, with the 2024 Conference League winners coming out 2-0 victors. However, Kasper Hjulmand’s men have been in excellent form since that defeat, however, unbeaten in their last six games, notably recording wins over Villarreal and Eintracht Frankfurt in the process.

Amid a crucial stage of the season, with 11 games in just five weeks, Hjulmand stuck with the same starting 11 that dispatched St Pauli 4-0 at the weekend.

The hosts began the game on top without truly threatening Janis Blaswich’s goal, and it wasn’t long before Leverkusen began to grow into the contest, with Patrick Schick and Ernest Poku each squandering half-chances shortly after a quarter of an hour.

After a long-range effort from Gelson Martins was well saved by Blaswich, the visitors continued to push and were denied the opening goal by Olympiacos stopper Konstantinos Tzolakis, brilliantly tipping over the crossbar from Ibrahim Maza’s close-range volley.

They really should have taken the lead moments later when Poku was set through on goal by Maza, but one-on-one with Tzolakis, the Dutchman fired wide.

After a couple of lengthy stoppages before half-time due to a nasty collision between Lorenzo Pirola and Panagiotis Retsos, Olympiacos forward Ayoub El Kaabi appeared to have headed home from Rodinei’s free kick. However, with the ball taking the slightest of touches off Mehdi Taremi, the goal was adjudged offside. A huge let-off for Leverkusen as they went into the break goalless.

After passing up a few chances in the first half, Leverkusen would break the deadlock on the hour mark when Poku sent Schick bearing down on goal, with the Czech making no mistake in firing past Tzolakis.

Almost immediately, Schick bagged his second, leaping high to head home from an Alejandro Grimaldo corner.

The rest of the game petered out, with little to write home about. Bar a speculative effort from wing-back Rodinei, Janis Blaswich was rarely troubled by the Olympiacos attack.

After a first half in which it looked as though the game could go either way, Leverkusen flexed their muscles in the second period, securing the club’s first knockout stage away win in the Champions League. A two-goal lead to take back to Germany was no more than they deserved, as the hosts could not lay a glove on them after Schick’s opener.

Olympiacos 0–2 Bayer Leverkusen | Player Ratings

Bayer Leverkusen:

Janis Blaswich (6), Jarell Quansah (6), Robert Andrich (6), Edmond Tapsoba (7), Lucas Vázquez (6), Exequiel Palacios (7), Aleix García (6), Alejandro Grimaldo (6), Ibrahim Maza (6), Ernest Poku (5), Patrick Schick (8)

Others: Malick Tillman (6), Martin Terrier (6), Arthur (6), Ezequiel Fernández (-), Christian Kofane (-)

GGFN Man of the Match: Patrick Schick (8)

With Die Werkself struggling in attack throughout the opening 45 minutes, the Czech forward stepped up and bagged himself a brace to win the game (and probably the tie) for his team. Leverkusen’s talisman probably should have completed his hat-trick, having missed a chance in the first half and another in the second.

GGFN | Harry Good