 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Manchester United's dwindling hopes of lifting a trophy this season are dangling by a thread after they produced an abject display to lose 2-0 at Olympiakos Piraeus in a Champions League last-16 first leg on Tuesday.
Alejandro Dominguez opened the scoring with a clever first-half flick and Arsenal loanee Joel Campbell added a sublime second goal to leave United facing a huge task to overturn the deficit in the return match at Old Trafford on March 19.
In the other match of the day, Borussia Dortmund's Robert Lewandowski scored twice in a clinical 4-2 win at Zenit St Petersburg who were made to pay for some dreadful defending in their Champions League last 16, first-leg tie.
Dortmund grabbed two goals in the first five minutes through Marco Reus and Henrikh Mkhitaryan after Zenit, looking rusty as they started their first match after a two-month winter break, twice lost possession on the halfway line.
Although the hosts fought back with second-half goals from Oleg Shatov and a Hulk penalty, Lewandowski replied on each occasion, helped by some more mishaps in the Zenit rearguard, as he took his tally in this year's competition to six.
Image: Olympiakos's Alejandro Dominguez (right) celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal against Manchester United during their Champions League round of 16 first leg match at Karaiskaki stadium in Piraeus, near Athens, on Tuesday
Photograph: Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters