Olympiacos through to the group stage on penalties

Greek Olympiacos, led by Valencian coach Carlos Corberán, again played with fire and came out unscathed against Apollon Limassol to reach the group stage of the Europa League after beating the Cypriot team on penalties.

The Greek team lived a tortuous path in the two qualification stages in which it participated. First, he fell to the first change in the Champions League after being humiliated by Maccabi Haifa in a return match that the Hellenic team will never forget. The 0-4 that left Olympiacos without a Champions League group was a heavy ballast that influenced their subsequent matches.

They face Slovan Bratislava in the penultimate qualifying round of the Europa League. He has to go to penalties to stay alive in the competition. And, his last obstacle, Apollon of Cyprus, also caused him to be tied from eleven meters.

Apollon draws in 90′

After drawing 1-1 in the first leg, Olympiacos started the second leg strongly, Georgios Masouras’ goal after two minutes appearing to clear the way for the Europa League group stage. However, Ioannis Pitas, in the 90th minute, sent the tie into extra time.

In it, Ousseynou Ba was sent off after ten minutes, leaving Olympiacos a man down in a very delicate moment. However, they endured the pull, on penalties Apollon succumbed to the failures of Charis Kyriakou, Hervin Ongenda and El Hadji Ba and the team led by the Spaniard Carlos Corberán took the weight off their shoulders after a month of suffering that wandering through the preview phases of European competitions.

Europa League playoff results (second leg)

Silkeborg (DIN) 1 – HJK HELSINKI (FIN) 1 (0-1)

Shamrock Rovers (IRL) 1 – FERENCVAROS (JUN) 0 (0-4)

OLYMPIACOS (GRE) 1 – Apollon (CYP) 1 (1-1) +

Sivasspor (TUR) 0 – MALMOE (SWE) 2 (1-3)

SHERIFF (MDA) 0 – Pyunik (ARM) 0 (0-0) +

Hearts (SCO) 0 – ZURICH (SUI) 1 (1-2)

Zalgiris (LTU) 3 – LUDOGORETS (BUL) 3 (0-1)

AEK LARNAKA (CYP) 3 – Dnipro (UKR) 0 (2-1)

OMONIA NICOSIA (CYP) 2 – Ghent (BEL) 0 (2-0)

FENERBAHCE (TUR) 4 – Austria Vienna (AUT) 1 (2-0)

+ Qualification after penalty shots

. The ten winners of these ties will join Roma (ITA), Manchester United (ING), Arsenal (ING), Lazio (ITA), Braga (POR), Feyenoord (POR), Rennes (FRA), Real Sociedad (ESP ), Betis (ESP), Union Berlin (ALE), Freiburg (ALE) and Nantes (FRA), directly qualified, and the clubs eliminated from the Champions League qualification stages: Bodo/Glimt (NOR), PSV Eindhoven (NED), Trabzonspor (TUR), Dinamo Kyiv (UKR), Red Star (SRB), Qarabag (AZE), Monaco (FRA), Sturm Graz (AUT), Union Saint-Gilloise (BEL) and Midtjylland (DIN) .