roberto denies juventus as olympiacos win again published: wednesday 22 october 2014, 22.50cet olympiacos fc 1-0 juventus pajtim kasami's first-half goal and some fine goalkeeping from roberto helped olympiacos add juve's scalp to that of club atlético de madrid.
by graham wood from stadio georgios karaiskakis
• olympiacos and atlético level at the top of group a with juve three points behind • pajtim kasami breaks deadlocks with first goal in europe at 20th attempt • the busy roberto pushes a late álvaro morata effort against the bar • olympiacos add juventus to the scalp of atlético on matchday one • next games: juventus v olympiacos (4 november)
olympiacos fc claimed another significant uefa champions league scalp on home soil after condemning juventus to the same fate suffered by club atlético de madrid last month.
pajtim kasami's clinical 36th-minute finish for the hosts was the only goal of the game but much of that was down to spanish goalkeeper roberto, who pulled off a strong of fine saves amid a second-half onslaught. the result leaves olympiacos second in group a alongside atlético; juve prop up the section, albeit only three points behind.
the hosts pushed forward in a frantic start, kostas mitroglou tapping wide from an acute angle following arthur masuaku's run, while gianluigi buffon clawed away a curling alejandro domínguez free-kick. juventus responded confidently, with home defender omar elabdellaoui heading carlos tévez's goal-bound flick off the line.
but if juve needed a reminder of the danger at the other end, it came in the 27th minute when domínguez raced onto masuaka's cross and sent a volley wide. it was a prelude to the goal. domínguez played mitroglou into the box on the break, and with the juve defence struggling, the greece striker squared for the unmarked kasami to slot in.
stephan lichtsteiner volleyed narrowly wide just after half-time as juve set about trying to get the equaliser with growing urgency. andrea pirlo made way for claudio marchisio shortly after uncharacteristically sending a free-kick high over the olympiacos crossbar, the midfielder's low key display summing up juve's night.
the visitors were fortunate not to fall further behind on the hour mark when kasami wasted a glorious chance to make it 2-0, dragging domínguez's low cross agonisingly wide of buffon's left post from close range. after that is was all juve as roberto began to single-handedly keep the italians at bay.
the spaniard first pulled off a superb reflex save from álvaro morata's close range shot on the turn. he then clawed away a speculative pogba effort, twice denied tévez and best of all, with nine minutes left, tipped morata's effort on to the crossbar.
