x

SPORTS

Olympiakos 1-1 Wolves, The Match Was Played in an Empty Stadium Due to Coronavirus Outbreak

March 13, 2020

ATHENS – Wolverhampton Wanderers needed a goal from a deflected free kick to earn a 1-1 draw at 10-man Olympiakos.

Wolves had asked for their game to be postponed as well after Olympiakos’ owner tested positive for COVID-19, but UEFA ordered the game to go ahead.

The hosts went down to 10 men when Ruben Semedo tackled Diogo Jota as he was clear through on goal. But Olympiakos still took the lead through Youssef El Arabi, before Pedro Neto deflected strike salvaged a draw.

Odion Ighalo kept up his scoring streak as Manchester United closed in on the Europa League quarterfinals with a 5-0 win over LASK on Thursday in the first leg of their round-of-16 meeting. Basel beat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0 away for another commanding lead.

All three of those games were played in empty — or near-empty — stadiums because of the coronavirus outbreak.

In Linz, Ighalo gave United the lead with a spectacular effort in the 28th minute as he collected a pass from Bruno Fernandes and juggled the ball from foot to foot before unleashing a left-footed volley with his fourth touch that flew in off the underside of the bar.

It was the striker’s fourth goal in three starts after joining United in January.

United dominated throughout but LASK stayed in the game until Daniel James doubled the lead in the 58th. Juan Mata added the third in the 82nd before Mason Greenwood and fellow substitute Andreas Pereira padded the lead in stoppage time to make the return leg all but meaningless.

Only 500 people were allowed inside the stadium because of the virus outbreak, including media personnel and a small pocket of LASK fans.

“The boys were fantastic,” United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said. “I think they deserve a lot of credit and praise for the way they went about the job. There was loads of quality in our finishing, some fantastic goals and some football we should be proud of.”

Also, Edin Visca netted a late penalty to give Istanbul Basaksehir a 1-0 home win over FC Copenhagen, Bayer Leverkusen won 3-1 at Rangers and Shakhtar Donetsk earned a 2-1 away win against Wolfsburg.

Two games involving Italian teams were postponed because of the virus outbreak, including Inter Milan’s game against Getafe and Roma’s meeting with Sevilla.

Frankfurt had hoped to play Basel with fans in the stadium. That was initially supported by city health officials Wednesday, but hours later the decision was reversed, Eintracht citing a change in the extent of the outbreak in areas including Basel.

The visitors took the lead through Samuele Campo in the 27th minute before Kevin Bua and Fabian Frei added goals in the second half.

The two clubs have agreed that Frankfurt will also host the return leg on March 19. That’s because Basel authorities ruled out hosting the game, even in an empty stadium, because they feared fans would gather outside the ground.

 

 

RELATED

LONDON (AP) — Power struggles, intriguing matchups and fond farewells.

Top Stories

Columnists

A pregnant woman was driving in the HOV lane near Dallas.

General News

NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.

Video

9 Are Facing Charges in What Police in Canada Say is the Biggest Gold Theft in the Country’s History

TORONTO (AP) — Police said nine people are facing charges in what authorities are calling the biggest gold theft in Canadian history from Toronto’s Pearson International airport a year ago.

FLUSHING, NY – AHEPA District 6 hosted Greek Heritage Day on April 13 at Citi Field, the home of the New York Mets.

LONDON (AP) — Power struggles, intriguing matchups and fond farewells.

MYTILENE, Lesbos - Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who was on the island of Lesbos on Friday, visited facilities at the port of Mytilene where a pilot programme for the issue of express visas to visitors from Turkiye has been underway since the end of March.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon could get weapons moving to Ukraine within days if Congress passes a long-delayed aid bill.

Enter your email address to subscribe

Provide your email address to subscribe. For e.g. [email protected]

You may unsubscribe at any time using the link in our newsletter.