Bordeaux beats Olympiakos 2-1 in Champions League

Posted Thursday, March 18, 2010 by YAHOO Sport

BORDEAUX, France (AP)—Bordeaux reached the quarterfinals of the European Cup for the first time in 22 years, beating Olympiakos 2-1 after goals from Yoann Gourcuff and Marouane Chamakh.

Gourcuff put Bordeaux ahead in the fifth minute but Olympiakos leveled midway through the second half through substitute Kostas Mitroglou. The visitors looked the better side until Chamakh scored with a brilliant header in the 88th as Bordeaux advanced 3-1 on aggregate.

“I am very happy with the result. We played very well in the first 25 minutes and it was encouraging to see certain players coming back into form,” Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc said. “If we look at the game as a whole, we had a bad spell for 10 minutes but we controlled the game pretty well.”

Olympiakos striker Matt Derbyshire and Bordeaux midfielder Alou Diarra were both sent off in the second half.

Bordeaux joins Lyon in the quarterfinals—the first time two French clubs have reached the last eight since Lyon and Monaco in 2004.

“You can think that because of the teams now qualified for the Champions League quarterfinals, and those doing well in the Europa League, that this proves that French football is in good shape,” Blanc said. “But to confirm this we will have to see how this develops over time to see if this can happen again, and to see how regularly French teams get through to the quarterfinals.”

Bordeaux was eliminated in the quarterfinals in 1988 by PSV Eindhoven, which went on to win the competition know known as the Champions League.

Bordeaux led after Olympiakos’ Vassilis Torosidis fouled Wendel from out wide. Gourcuff placed the ball, took a moment to compose himself and then expertly curled the ball over the head of goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis into the far corner of the net.

“We knew we could trouble them from free kicks and that’s where the first goal came from,” Blanc said.

It was the France playmaker’s first goal in 11 games and should boost his confidence after he notably put in a below-par performance against Spain earlier this month.

“They scored very early on and then we got back into it. We were the better team in the second half,” Olympiakos coach Bozidar Bandovic said through an interpreter. “After we scored we had a few chances, and if the players had believed it in more then the outcome could have been different.”

Gourcuff almost added another goal in the 39th when Olympiakos hesitated in defense and he nipped in to steal the ball, but Nikopolidis reacted well to block his shot.

Gourcuff then tried his luck with another free kick, also from the left but from 35 meters (yards) out, and Nikopolidis was saved by his crossbar and a post as he backpedalled in vain to stop the shot.

Olympiakos had a goal ruled out for offside just before the interval, Derbyshire turning in Lomana LuaLua’s cross from the right.

Derbyshire received a second yellow card for a crude foul on midfielder Jaroslav Plasil in the 60th.

Five minutes later, the Greek side equalized when Mitroglou, moments after coming off the bench, turned on the edge of the penalty area and his dipping shot flew into the top corner to catch goalkeeper Cedric Carrasso by surprise.

“After their equalizer we started to make a few mistakes. For 10 minutes, we made errors,” Bordeaux defender Matthieu Chalme said. “But then we got it back together and tightened things up a bit.”

Portuguese referee Olegario Benquerenca then sent off Diarra in the 68th for a second yellow card after a late tackle.

Mitroglou almost put Olympiakos ahead in the 77th when his shot flashed across the goal mouth with Carrasso beaten.

Bordeaux looked nervous as the clock wound down, knowing that a goal by Olympiakos would knock them out on away goals, but Chamakh put the match beyond doubt when he rose majestically to head in Benoit Tremoulinas’ cross from the left.