Sports / Soccer |
Rivaldo decisive as leaders Olympiakos beat PAOK 3-2(Reuters)Updated: 2007-01-22 11:03 ATHENS, Jan 21 - Rivaldo scored one goal and set up another as Olympiakos Piraeus maintained their six-point lead in the Super League after coming from a goal down to beat PAOK 3-2 on Sunday. Olympiakos have 46 points, six more than AEK Athens who had to work hard to beat Atromitos 3-0. Panathinaikos, held 0-0 by Xanthi on Saturday, are third, on 38. Olympiakos had their work cut out to take three points from a side that has recorded home wins against AEK in the league and Panathinaikos in the Greek Cup over the last two weeks. PAOK took the lead after 29 minutes when Marcin Mieciel notched his 11th strike of the campaign. Defender Vassilis Torosidis equalised in the 57th minute with his first goal for Olympiakos since joining them on January 1. Remarkably, his only other goal this season came in Xanthi's 1-0 win over PAOK in November. Rivaldo put Olympiakos ahead nine minutes later when he rounded the goalkeeper and fired home from a tight angle on the left. The Brazilian then turned provider for his Uruguayan protege Nery Alberto Castillo who made it 3-1. PAOK rallied and pulled one back through Hungarian striker Sandor Torghelle two minutes from time. AEK had to scrap for their win even though Nikos Liberopoulos opened the scoring after 12 minutes. They had to wait until the 80th minute for Julio Cesar to score the second and Panagiotis Kone added the third in the last minute. OFI Crete confirmed their status as UEFA Cup hopefuls with a 1-0 win over Iraklis despite playing almost an hour with 10 men. Stelios Sfakianakis was sent off after 33 minutes for using his elbow but Bulgarian midfielder Zvetomir Tsipev fired home from a direct free kick just before halftime to lift OFI into fourth place one point above PAOK.
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