Bordeaux advance to quarter-finals after beating Olympiacos

Mar 17, 2010, 22:43 GMT

Bordeaux, France - French club Bordeaux advanced to the quarter-finals of the Champions League on Wednesday with a 2-1 win against Greek club Olympiacos in a match both sides ended with ten players.

Having already won the first leg in Piraeus, Bordeaux were always expected to have few difficulties in joining fellow French club Olympique Lyon in the round of the last eight and a fifth minute goal by Yoann Gourcuff all but sealed matters.

Even though Konstantinos Mitroglou leveled matters for the visitors midway through the second half, Marouane Chamakh found the winner for Bordeaux with two minutes to go to give them a 3-1 aggregate victory.

Leading 1-0 from the first leg, Gourcuff, who already set up the goal in the first game with a free-kick that Michael Ciani headed home, gave Bordeaux an ideal start.

The French international midfielder placed a direct free-kick over the head of goalkeeper and captain Antonios Nikopolidis to put the visitors into the situation of having to score twice.

Gourcuff came close to doubling his side's score shortly before the break when another free-kick beat Nikopolidis, but this time it crashed against the upright.

Olympiacos thought they had pulled level on the night in first- half injury time when former Premier League player Matt Derbyshire poked the ball into the back of the net, only to be blown up for offside.

The Greek side's efforts of advancing received a further set-back on the hour when Derbyshire was sent off after receiving a second booking for a dangerous tackle, just four minutes after being booked for the first time.

However, the visitors where thrown a lifeline five minutes later when substitute Mitroglou, who had been on just two minutes, scored with a tremendous long-range effort.

Bordeaux captain Alou Diarra was also sent for an early shower in the 69th minute by Luxembourg referee Alain Hammer after a reckless lunge.

The goal and the red card for Bordeaux gave Olympiacos a new lease on life and they pushed men forward in search of a second goal that would have crowned a remarkable come-back.

Raul Bravo came close to scoring for the Greek side with just over ten minutes to go, but his shot was deflected for a corner.

At the other end, Chamakh should have given his side the lead again after intercepting a horrendous back-pass, but the Moroccan international pushed the ball just a bit too far to allow Nikopolidis to make an important save.

Chamakh made amends with two minutes to go when he jumped higher than his marker to head home Benoit Tremoulinas' cross to finalize matters.