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Olympiacos CFP's long wait for an away victory in the UEFA Champions League is over after the Greek champions boosted their Group C bid with a 3-1 win at Werder Bremen.
Record over
The visitors' run of 31 matches without a success on their travels was one of the competition's most staggering statistics, and it looked set to continue when Hugo Almeida gave the hosts a first-half lead. Panagiotis Lemonis's men raised their game after the interval, however, and following Ieroklis Stoltidis's 73rd-minute leveller, Christos Patsatzoglou rifled in a deflected shot from 30 metres nine minutes later. Substitute Darko Kovačević then capped an evening to remember by turning in a loose ball from close range with three minutes left.
Frings return
With the whole country celebrating German Unity Day, it was perhaps appropriate that the locals turned out in force at the Weserstadion to give Bremen their backing. To their delight, Torsten Frings was present too, having overcome a knee injury, and Thomas Schaaf's charges began brightly. With in-form striker Boubacar Sanogo confined to the bench, Bremen's Portugal forward Almeida was particularly alert early on and will have been disappinted not to have beaten visiting goalkeeper Antonios Nikopolidis when one-on-one with the Greek international.
Vander saves
That was after Lomana LuaLua had already tested Christian Vander at the other end, bending in a low shot from the left that the tournament newcomer collected comfortably. To underline Olympiacos's intent, left-back Didier Domi unleashed an attempt soon after with the same result. It had been a frenetic start, and the excitement continued when Raúl Bravo deflected an Almeida effort just wide and Markus Rosenberg headed over.
Almeida breakthrough
An injury to Domi calmed matters momentarily – the Frenchman making way for Júlio César – but Luciano Galletti raised the temperature again with a thunderous strike that Vander saved superbly with his legs. Following up, Predrag Djordjević issued Bremen with another warning when he fired over. It was a warning the hosts heeded and shortly after the half-hour they were ahead. Duško Tošić's mis-hit cross from the left was picked up by Daniel Jensen and he scooped the ball across to the far post where Almeida stabbed home. One nearly became two before the break, with Olympiacos having Nikopolidis to thank for doing brilliantly to deny both Rosenberg and Jensen.
Olympiacos respond
Having ended the first half on the back foot, the Piraeus club pushed higher up the pitch after the restart and it took an acrobatic save from Vander to claw away a long-range Galletti pile-driver. He was unable to stop LuaLua burying a rebound in the 65th minute but Bremen were saved by an offside flag. However, the reprieve would be only temporary. Despite Vander's best efforts to keep out a stinging shot from Kovačević, Stoltidis stole in to blast the ball in for the equaliser. The two late strikes from Patsatzoglou and Kovačević then ensured a memorable triumph for Olympiacos who will travel to Real Madrid CF on 24 October as leaders of Group C. For their part, Bremen – still without a point – must rally at home to S.S. Lazio on the same day. 
©uefa.com 1998-2007. All rights reserved. Lemonis lauds 'supreme team effort' - Wednesday 3 October 2007
"A supreme team effort" was Olympiacos CFP coach Panagiotis Lemonis's take on the 3-1 win at Werder Bremen which ended a run of 31 away games without success in the UEFA Champions League. While the Greek side now top Group C ahead of their double-header against Real Madrid CF, Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf admitted "it doesn't look good" for his point-less team.
Thomas Schaaf, Bremen coach
In the second half, when we still had the lead, we missed out on scoring a second or even a third goal. Then we starting playing deeper instead of attacking, didn't make the challenges in midfield and gave Olympiacos room to play their game. It doesn't look good for us now, we have no points after the opening two matches. It will be very difficult for us. We simply cannot afford results and performances like today in the Champions League.
Panagiotis Lemonis, Olympiacos coach
Our win today at Werder Bremen was a supreme team effort. In the first half we did not concentrate or act quickly enough when in possession, but in the second we did much better and put in a great performance. We were effective as a team and my team has written history today thanks to a very strong performance in the second half. We need to repeat this level of performance against Real Madrid when we meet them next.
©uefa.com 1998-2007. All rights reserved.
Η νίκη του Ολυμπιακού επί της φορμαρισμένης Βέρντερ στην Βρέμη με το εντυπωσιακό 3-1, δεν πέρασε φυσικά απαρατήρητη από τα κορυφαία διεθνή ΜΜΕ. Ιδιαίτερη αναφορά γίνεται στο γεγονός ότι αυτή ήταν η πρώτη εκτός έδρας νίκη των «ερυθρόλευκων» στο Champions League, ενώ η ισπανική Μarca τονίζει πως ο Ολυμπιακός έβγαλε νοκ άουτ την Βέρντερ.
Οι πρώτες αντιδράσεις των διεθνών ΜΜΕ:
Το επίσημο site της UEFA αναφέρει: «Χαρά στο τέλος για τον Ολυμπιακό. Σημείωσε την πρώτη του εκτός έδρας νίκη στο Champions League, 3-1 την Βέρντερ στη Βρέμη».
Ο δικτυακός τόπος του Κicker κάνει λόγο για πικρή ήττα: «Πικρή ήττα για την Βέρντερ, ο Ολυμπιακός τη νίκησε με 3-1 και σημείωσε την πρώτη του εκτός έδρας νίκη στην ιστορία του στη διοργάνωση».
Η νίκη του Ολυμπιακού επί της Βέρντερ βολεύει φυσικά την Ρεάλ Μαδρίτης, για αυτό και η ισπανική Marca αναφέρει: «Ο Ολυμπιακός έβγαλε νοκ άουτ την Βέρντερ»
Ιδιαίτερη αναφορά γίνεται και στο Υahoo: «Σοκ στην Γερμανία, ο Ολυμπιακός νίκησε με 3-1 την Βέρντερ».
1997-1998
Ρόζενμποργκ-Ολυμπιακός 5-1
Ρεάλ Μαδρίτης-Ολυμπιακός 5-1
Πόρτο-Ολυμπιακός 2-1
1998-1999
Πόρτο-Ολυμπιακός 2-2
Άγιαξ-Ολυμπιακός 2-0
Ντιναμό Ζάγκρεμπ-Ολυμπιακός 1-1
Γιουβέντους-Ολυμπιακός 2-1
1999-2000
Πόρτο-Ολυμπιακός 2-0
Μόλντε-Ολυμπιακός 3-2
Ρεάλ Μαδρίτης-Ολυμπιακός 3-0
2000-2001
Βαλένθια-Ολυμπιακός 2-1
Χέρενφεϊν-Ολυμπιακός 1-0
Λιόν-Ολυμπιακός 1-0
2001-2002
Λα Κορούνια-Ολυμπιακός 2-2
Λιλ-Ολυμπιακός 3-1
Μάντσεστερ Γιουνάιτεντ-Ολυμπιακός 3-0
2002-2003
Μακάμπι Χάιφα-Ολυμπιακός 3-0
Μάντσεστερ Γιουνάιτεντ-Ολυμπιακός 4-0
Λεβερκούζεν-Ολυμπιακός 2-0
2003-2004
Ρεάλ Σοσιεδάδ-Ολυμπιακός 1-0
Γαλατάσαραϊ-Ολυμπιακός 1-0
Γιουβέντους-Ολυμπιακός 7-0
2004-2005
Λα Κορούνια-Ολυμπιακός 0-0
Μονακό-Ολυμπιακός 2-1
Λίβερπουλ-Ολυμπιακός 3-1
2005-2006
Ρεάλ Μαδρίτης-Ολυμπιακός 2-1
Λιόν-Ολυμπιακός 2-1
Ρόζενμποργκ-Ολυμπιακός 1-1
2006-2007
Σαχτάρ Ντόνετσκ-Ολυμπιακός 2-2
Ρόμα-Ολυμπιακός 1-1
Βαλένθια-Ολυμπιακός 2-0
2007-2008
Βέρντερ Βρέμης-Ολυμπιακός 1-3
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