Olympiakos holds Real to 0-0 draw
Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Olympiakos held Real Madrid to a 0-0 draw Tuesday in the Champions League, with the Spaniards squandering a string of chances.

Madrid dominated most the Group C game, twice hitting the post in the first half with shots from Gabriel Heinze and Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Robinho also came close, but his early effort was blocked by Olympiakos goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis.

Nikopolidis also saved shots from Wesley Sneijder in the 68th and 71st. In the 89th, Sergio Ramos headed over the bar.

"I think we deserved to win ... but the point we got is not too bad," Van Nistelrooy said. "We could have qualified today but we still have two more games.

"We have a lot of opportunities to score and it's a shame we didn't.

Olympiakos manager Takis Lemonis conceded his players made mistakes.

"The players were nervous early in the game. ... Now we have the opportunity to regroup before our next match," Lemonis said. "It's a significant result, we were facing a big team which gave us problems. The fans were great."

Madrid leads the group with eight points. Olympiakos and Lazio have five points from four games, while Werder Bremen has three.

The game was played before a capacity crowd of 33,000 at Karaiskakis Stadium. Spectators had been banned from Olympiakos' last home game on Oct. 3 against Lazio, after UEFA punished the Greek club for fan violence during a match against Shakhtar Donetsk last season.

Real got off to a lively start, coming close to scoring in the 14th minute. Van Nistelrooy beat Olympiakos' defense with a pass to Robinho, but his low drive was stopped by Nikopolidis.

Four minutes later, Lomana LuaLua gave the ball away to Sneijder in the Olympiakos area, but the Dutch midfielder's shot was again saved by Nikopolidis.

Olympiakos' major chance came in the 53rd, but Luciano Galletti could not score after a melee in the Real area.

"The main thing is that we didn't lose," Olympiakos defender Tassos Pantos said. "We defended well tonight and the point we've won is important."