A 1-0 Olympiakos victory against Arsenal wasn’t enough for the Greeks to advance through to the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
In a two-legged fixture, Arsenal ended up grateful for their 3-1 victory in Greece last week. Greece needed to score at least 4 goals to have a chance against the Gunners, yet devastatingly only squeezed one past veteran keeper Leno.
Nevertheless, there were some panicked fans at the Emirates Stadium this morning after Youssef El-Arabi’s shot found the net via a deflection off Gabriel. Arsenal were clearly weak in defence, with El-Arabi having another close opportunity that was denied by Leno, yet their attacking push helped them hold the game’s momentum.
A red card was shown to Olympiakos’ Ousseynou Ba for dissent late on, wrapping up the match for the Gunners.
Over one year ago, Olympiakos pulled off a stunning last minute equaliser against Arsenal to proceed through the next stage of the Europa League.
The two-legged matchup was the first time Olympiakos defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos played against his friend Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who he spent many years with at Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal before his move to Greece.
Arsenal will discover their quarter-final opponents when the draw is made in Switzerland at 12:00 GMT on Friday.
