Late goals not enough for the Reds against Sporting

A disastrous first half for Olympiakos gave Sporting Lisbon the chance to conquer Piraeus with a 3-2 score on Tuesday on the opening night of the Champions League group stage. The result means that in a group with Barcelona and Juventus, Olympiakos is the favorite to finish fourth right from day 1.

The lack of any adequate holding midfielders in their starting line-up and the sheer quality of Sporting cost the Reds dearly on the night. There was also inadequate preparation to tackle Sporting's game.

It appeared the Greek team was more distracted at the start by the hot atmosphere at the stands of the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium than the visitors, as the Portuguese got to score twice in the first quarter of an hour.

It was barely 70 seconds after kick-off when the Olympiakos defense failed to clear a Marcos Acuna freekick from the right and Seydou Doumbia...