Schick steers Leverkusen past Olympiacos in Champions League

Piraeus, Greece – Patrik Schick’s four-minute second-half double shattered Olympiacos and handed Bayer Leverkusen a precious 2-0 victory in the first leg of their Champions League knockout play-off on Wednesday, giving the Bundesliga side a firm grip on the tie before next week’s return in Germany.

The Czech striker struck twice in quick succession midway through the second period to settle a tie that had been delicately poised after a breathless opening 45 minutes in which the Greek hosts pressed with relentless tempo.

“In the first half it was a difficult match, Olympiacos pressed us with plenty of tempo and made things very complicated for us,” Schick told DAZN. “In the second half we improved a couple of things, scored two goals and got an important win.”

Those goals arrived on the hour mark and again three minutes later. Ernest Poku dispossessed an opponent deep inside Leverkusen territory, surged forward and slipped a perfectly weighted pass into Schick’s path. The forward kept his composure to slide a low finish beyond Konstantinos Tzolakis. Before the home crowd could regroup, Alex Grimaldo’s inswinging corner was met by Schick, who powered a header inside the far post to turn the evening into a personal showcase.

Olympiacos, who had defeated Leverkusen 2-0 in the group stage only last month, began as though determined to underline that result was no fluke. Backed by a raucous Karaiskakis Stadium and, according to Greek media reports, the promise of a “record” bonus from owner Evangelos Marinakis, the hosts pinned the Germans back for the opening 25 minutes and saw Ayoub El Kaabi bundle home a free-kick shortly before the interval, only for VAR to disallow the effort after spotting an offside touch by Mehdi Taremi.

Leverkusen weathered the storm and might have led themselves on 28 minutes had Tzolakis not produced an acrobatic stop to deny Ibrahim Maza. The breakthrough eventually came via Schick’s brace, ending Olympiacos’ resistance and handing Xabi Alonso’s men a historic result: Leverkusen’s first-ever away victory in a Champions League knockout tie and only their second win in 13 knockout-phase contests since the 2002 final defeat to Real Madrid.

The triumph also extends Leverkusen’s hot streak to six wins and a draw in seven matches since that January loss to Olympiacos, and leaves the Germans firmly in the driver’s seat ahead of the second leg, with the winners set to face either Arsenal or Bayern Munich in the round of 16.