Olympiacos tops Fenerbahce 3-2 in Europa Conference League quarters, Plzen holds Fiorentina 0-0
Thu, Apr 11, 2024
Soccer News (AP)
Kostas Fortounis scored and provided an assist to help Olympiacos beat Fenerbahce 3-2 in the first leg of the Europa Conference League quarterfinals on Thursday.
Olympiacos built a 3-0 lead in Piraeus and held on after the Turkish team fought back with two second-half goals.
Fortounis opened the scoring after just eight minutes, netting his fifth goal of the European campaign. He then set up Stevan Jovetic to double the lead before halftime.
Chiquinho made it 3-0 with a precise low drive approaching the hour mark before Dusan Tadic pulled one back from the penalty spot and Irfan Can Kahveci added the second for Fenerbahce.
Olympiacos is one of the two Greek teams in the last eight hoping to reach a home final in Athens.
The other, PAOK, was playing at Club Brugge later Thursday.
Viktoria Plzen held last year's runner-up Fiorentina to a 0-0 draw in what was the first European quarterfinal for the Czech club, which hasn't conceded a goal for seven straight games in the third-tier competition.
As Fiorentina looked in control in the second half, the match was interrupted for several minutes because of flares that its fans threw onto the pitch.
Aston Villa was hosting Lille in the other quarterfinal.
The second-leg games will be played next week.
Europa League first-leg quarterfinals were later Thursday.
Liverpool hosts Atalanta, while unbeaten Bundesliga leader Bayer Leverkusen hosts West Ham. Also, Roma plays at AC Milan, and Benfica hosts Marseille.
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