PSV leave it late to earn 1-1 draw at Olympiakos

ATHENS - PSV Eindhoven substitute Ricardo Pepi scored in stoppage time to earn a 1-1 draw with Olympiakos on Tuesday and deny the Greek club a first win in this season's Champions League.

Pepi stuck away a rebound from a free kick three minutes into stoppage time after Olympiakos had led from the 17th minute through Gelson Martins.

The former Portugal international thrashed home a powerful shot from the right at the end of a quick punt upfield at Stadio Georgios Karaiskakis by goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis to give Olympiakos an early lead.

But they could not hold on and the draw leaves the Greek club with two points from four matches while PSV have five.

PSV will consider themselves fortunate to escape defeat as they looked nothing like the side that had been convincing 6-2 winners over Napoli at home in their last Champions League outing last month.

Joey Veerman’s last-gasp free kick was chipped over the Olympiakos wall and Costinha got a touch as he attempted to clear but only succeeded in putting the ball into the path of U.S. international Pepi who finished firmly under the body of Tzolakis for the equaliser.

The Dutch champions had the ball in the net early on from in-form striker Ismael Saibari but he was offside and that was their only other convincing attack.

EYE-CATCHING OLYMPIAKOS OPENER

Instead, it was Gelson Martins who opened the scoring as the ball reached him in two touches from his goalkeeper and, after initially controlling it on his knee, he unleashed a powerful shot to score.

A snapshot from Chiquinho, one of five Portuguese players used by Olympiakos in the game, could have put the home team two-up in the 31st minute but it was acrobatically parried away by PSV’s goalkeeper Matej Kovar.

Gelson Martins clipped the top of the crossbar with a difficult effort from a rebound at a corner in the 61st minute and Kovar made a firm save from Daniel Podence as he cut inside and hit on target from inside the box.

Gelson Martins should have made sure of the points with a side-footed effort from close in with three minutes remaining, but it went wide and his side went on to pay a price.

Olympiakos, who were hammered 6-1 by Barcelona in their previous Champions League match, moved up two places to 31st in the table while PSV slipped from 16th to 17th.

Olympiakos are next home to Real Madrid on November 26 while PSV travel away to Liverpool in their next Champions League fixture on the same day. REUTERS