Ideye marvels at Olympiacos winner at Dinamo
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
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"I managed to score a most difficult goal," Ideye Brown told UEFA.com after his late winner for Olympiacos at Dinamo Zagreb, who need a matchday four "miracle" in Greece.
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In last season's UEFA Champions League, Olympiacos were beaten away from home on all three occasions, relying on maximum points in Piraeus to finish third in their group.
This year, when they opened Group F by losing 3-0 at home to Bayern München, things looked bleak. However, they then won 3-2 at Arsenal and on Tuesday, Ideye Brown's goal helped them to a 1-0 victory at Dinamo Zagreb that moves them level with Bayern at the top.
With a home game against Dinamo to come in a fortnight, and Arsenal having to go to Bayern, Olympiacos could have a cushion of six points over second place with two games left if things go their way. But they nearly did not at Dinamo, who having beaten Arsenal at Stadion Maksimir to open their campaign, came close to another surprise as they twice hit the woodwork and had several other good chances, only for Ideye to deny them with 11 minutes left as he ran on to Felipe Pardo's ball and squeezed his shot in from a tight angle.
"I tried to run quickly when I saw Pardo," Ideye told UEFA.com. "I went for the ball. Then I managed to score a most difficult goal. That's football. We knew we had to score. Now we're level with Bayern and we want to make it to the next round.
"I'm not surprised that we won hard – I expected this tough game," said the 27-year-old forward, who moved from West Bromwich Albion just before the transfer deadline.
"Dinamo played a very good match. We missed some chances, they also had some chances, but we were the ones who scored. We deserved to win."
The Bayern loss is the Greek champions' only defeat in 18 matches, as they sit top of the Super League with a 100% record, and Ideye mused: "What is the key? We worked very, very hard and this is a great reward for it."
The mood was bleaker for Domagoj Antolić, Dinamo captain in the absence of the suspended Arijan Ademi. "I am very disappointed, because we did not deserve to lose. We had no luck and now we can hope for a miracle in Greece in November."
Dinamo are level with Arsenal in third, but with the club not having survived in continental competition until the spring since the 1969/70 European Cup Winners' Cup, Antolić added: "When we were drawn in this group no one expected miracles."