Olympiakos battle past Bremen

Stoltidis: At the double for Olympiakos

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Olympiakos booked their place in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League with a 3-0 victory over Werder Bremen.

The Greeks only needed to avoid defeat to secure their own progression and eliminate Bremen, but they began brightly and took the lead after just 12 minutes.

Bremen dominated for long periods thereafter but they were left to rue a string of missed chances as Olympiakos netted twice more midway through the second half and the German side must now settle for a place in the Uefa Cup.

Bremen, who had been stunned 3-1 at home by Olympiakos in October, had a chance to strike the first blow as Diego was denied by a scrambling save from Antonis Nikopolidis and Boubacar Sanogo failed to turn in the rebound.

Ieroklis Stoltidis then grabbed the opening goal for Olympiakos as he seized on some hesitant defending to strike a powerful shot into the bottom left corner from outside the area.

Former Portsmouth striker Lomana LuaLua almost made it 2-0 as he volleyed wide a few minutes later.

Bremen denied

However, the realisation that they were on the brink of a place in the last 16 then seemed to hit Olympiakos and they appeared unsure whether to stick or twist.

Nikopolidis, nicknamed Clooney, was in the thick of the action as he pulled off a superb save from Sanogo's close-range shot and then saw Daniel Jensen drag one just wide.

Naldo also came close to drawing Bremen level as he headed wide from a corner, although Olympiakos did have a glorious opportunity to score again before the break.

LuaLua's cross-field pass found Darko Kovacevic unmarked in the area but Tim Wiese rushed off his line to smother his attempt on goal.

It was one-way traffic at the start of the second half as Bremen set up camp in the Olympiakos half and drove forward in pursuit of an equaliser.

Naldo was once again presented with a opening and on this occasion he made a firm connection with his header, but Tasssos Pantos did a good impression of a contortionist to clear off the line.

Sanogo headed straight at Nikopolidis before being withdrawn for Hugo Almeida 25 minutes from time.

Game over

The Bremen barrage continued unabated until Olympiakos scored against the run of play, Kovacevic heading Stoltidis' left-wing cross low past Wiese on 70 minutes.

With Bremen still reeling Stoltidis clinched the points for Olympiakos on 74 minutes, showing a predatory instinct that any striker would have been proud of as he reacted quickest to a loose ball and fired past Wiese.

There were few chances in the closing stages as both sides went through the motions, with news filtering through that Lazio's defeat to Real Madrid had at least secured a Uefa Cup spot for Bremen.

Olympiakos, meanwhile, go through to the knockout stages after a superb Group C campaign.