Michael Ciani headed home as Bordeaux took a crucial advantage over Olympiakos in the Champions League.
Blanc's men advantage grab advantage in Greece
Michael Ciani headed home on the stroke of half-time as Bordeaux took a crucial advantage over Olympiakos in their UEFA Champions League last-16 clash.
The Greek champions could have gone in front early on but Olof Mellberg flashed his header wide from a Jesus Datolo free-kick.
The visitors made them pay when Ciani nodded home from close range after Yoann Gourcuff had whipped a dangerous free-kick in from the left.
Olympiakos threatened late on in the game but Cedric Carrasso saved well to deny Lomana LuaLua four times, including a close range header in injury time.
The victory means Laurent Blanc's side are firmly in control of the tie ahead of the second leg in France on 17th March.
The winner was not without a whiff of controversy, however, coming as it did from a controversial free-kick awarded by referee Howard Webb, but that will be of little concern for Bordeaux coach Blanc who saw his side maintain their unbeaten record in this season's competition.
Early chance
Mellberg almost opened the scoring for Olympiakos after just four minutes, the defender connecting well with Datolo's free-kick but he saw his header sail the wrong side of the upright.
Neither did enough to claim the upper hand in the early exchanges but Antonis Nikopolidis' palms were stung after 25 minutes when some neat Bordeaux approach play saw Fernando fire an effort straight at the home custodian.
A collision between Raul Bravo and Ieroklis Stoltidis gifted Bordeaux a chance to bag the opener after 36 minutes but Mellberg was on hand to mop up, flicking the ball clear of danger as Gourcuff looked to pull the trigger.
Two minutes into stoppage time Webb awarded a harsh free-kick against LuaLua, who appeared to win the ball cleanly from Benoit Tremoulinas on the left touchline.
LuaLua was frustrated by the decision, but frustration gave way to anger moments later when Gourcuff whipped in a wicked delivery and centre-half Ciani timed his run to perfection to nod home from six yards.
Gourcuff saw a free-kick charged down by the Olympiakos wall moments after the restart as the French side, who finished top of Group A to reach this stage, stayed on the front foot.
Two minutes later the visitors saw an opening to go two goals clear spurned as Ciani headed over when unmarked from a corner kick.
Debut
The hosts were struggling to make any impact going forward and handed Matt Derbyshire a Champions League debut off the bench as they strived to turn the tide.
Wendel screwed a shot wide of the target on 80 minutes as the visitors again looked the most likely to add to the scoring, but 60 seconds later Olympiakos went close.
A long punt up field was controlled on the chest by Derbyshire, the Englishman laying the ball off for LuaLua to drill in a low shot from the edge of the area which Carrasso just tipped wide.
LuaLua chanced his arm from 20 yards with four minutes remaining but Carrasso held on comfortably going down to his right.
And the striker's personal duel with the Bordeaux goalkeeper continued when LuaLua saw his looping header tipped away to safety.
From the resulting corner, Vassilis Torosidis almost snatched an equaliser as his header beat Carrasso, but Marc Planus did his job well to hack the ball clear on the line.
Olympiakos went close again at the death when LuaLua headed at goal from close range but Carrasso again denied him with a point blank save.
When the ball was hoofed back into the danger zone, Ciani's attempted clearance span high into the air, and although Maresca judged the flight of the ball to perfection to nod into the net, the referee ruled out the effort after Derbyshire impeded Carrasso in the melee.
| Olympiakos |
Team Statistics |
Bordeaux |
| 0 |
Goals |
1 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
1 |
| 7 |
Shots on Target |
2 |
| 6 |
Shots off Target |
4 |
| 1 |
Blocked Shots |
3 |
| 6 |
Corners |
4 |
| 16 |
Fouls |
24 |
| 3 |
Offsides |
1 |
| 2 |
Yellow Cards |
2 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 77.1 |
Passing Success |
76.1 |
| 21 |
Tackles |
22 |
| 85.7 |
Tackles Success |
77.3 |
| 48.4 |
Possession |
51.6 |
| 41.7 |
Territorial Advantage |
58.3 |
|
