Olympiakos tops Man-U in Champions League
PIRAEUS, Greece — (AP) — Manchester United’s terrible season got even worse Tuesday night when the English power lost 2-0 at Olympiakos in its second-round Champions League opener.
Alejandro Dominguez deflected Yiannis Maniatis’s shot past David de Gea in the 38th minute, and Joel Campbell caught the goalkeeper off guard with a well-placed strike in the 55th minute at Karaiskaki Stadium.
“It’s the worst performance in Europe that’s for sure. It was a very poor performance, and we didn’t deserve to get anything. To a man there was nothing,” said David Moyes, in his first season as United manager following Alex Ferguson’s retirement. “I take responsibility. It’s my team and we didn’t play well. There is a second game — we’ll do everything we possibly can.”
United is just sixth in the Premier League at 13-8-6 and trails Liverpool by 11 points for fourth place, the final berth in next season’s lucrative Champions League. Winning this year’s competition might be the only route into next year’s tournament for United, which would face a major revenue loss if it fails to qualify for Europe’s top club tournament.
“We just haven’t been getting the right results,” United midfielder Michael Carrick said. “As players we have to stand up . . . That’s the business we’re in.”
The second leg of the total-goals series is in Manchester on March 19.
“This was a great victory against a massive club like Manchester. We were told to hold the midfield, and we did,” Maniatis said. “The fans were amazing, and we made them happy. It’s fantastic.”
United had the 55 percent possession but was outshot 12-5. Wayne Rooney failed to threaten and Robin van Persie missed his team’s best chance, skying a shot over the crossbar following Chris Smalling’s cross in the 82nd minute. Olimpiakos became the first home team to win in six secondround matches.
In the night’s other game, Robert Lewandowski scored twice as Borussia Dortmund took a big step toward the quarterfinals with a 4-2 victory at Zenit St. Petersburg.
Losing finalists last year, Dortmund made a blistering start with Henrikh Mkhitaryan scoring in the fourth minute and Marco Reus doubling the visitors’ lead a minute later.
Zenit, which hadn’t played a competitive game since Dec. 11 due to the Russian winter break, looked rusty, but pulled one back through Oleg Shatov in the 57th.
Lewandowski replied four minutes later, after playing a one-two with Poland teammate Lukasz Piszczek. Then Piszczek conceded a penalty and Hulk scored emphatically from the spot in the 69th.
Lewandowski responded by scoring his side’s fourth away goal two minutes later to leave Dortmund firmly in control before the secondleg of the round-of-16 tie on March 19.
“We were close to optimal this evening,” Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp said. “It was a great game, no question.”
After more than two months without competitive football, the home side buckled early on under the visitors’ pressure and struggled to keep up with their quick passing game.
The tactics quickly paid off for Dortmund when Reus ran at the Zenit defense, staying on his feet when he might have been awarded a penalty, before Mkhitaryan swept the loose ball past Yuri Lodygin.
The visiting fans were still celebrating when Kevin Grosskreutz knocked Mkhitaryan’s cross back for Reus to volley inside the right post.
“We stayed compact. We wanted to pressure them to win back the ball. That was very important,” Dortmund captain Sebastian Kehl said. “We brought the game in the right direction and made Zenit uncertain.”
Zenit’s attacking midfielder Andrey Arshavin went off with what looked a hamstring injury in the 15th minute, and last-gasp defending from its captain Nicolas Lombaerts prevented Lewandowski from getting
third shortly Dortmund’s afterward.
Zenit was let down by sloppy play and nervous defending, with Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, who came on for the injured Arshavin, giving the ball away cheaply to highlight his side’s travails.
Hulk was fired up but his shot failed to trouble Roman Weidenfeller and his only reward for taking on three Dortmund defenders was a corner, which came to nothing.
Lodygin pulled off a good save to deny Lewandowski three minutes after the interval, before Zenit responded with a period of pressure.
It finally paid off when Shatov scored in fortuitous fashion. Marcel Schmelzer cleared Hulk’s effort off the line and Jose Rondon struck the post from the rebound, before the loose ball fell kindly for Shatov to blast home.
Dortmund soon replied, with Lewandowski playing a one-two with Poland teammate Lukasz Piszczek and firing beyond Lodygin, who got a touch to the ball.
The home side was given a lifeline when Piszczek was adjudged to have fouled Viktor Fayzulin. Hulk duly obliged with his penalty.
But Lewandowski provided another immediate response after Tymoshchuk lost possession. Reus sent the ball into the Poland striker’s path and he fired inside the far corner for his sixth of the campaign.