Dimitrios Diamantakos scored twice in regulation and Roberto Jimenez Gago made two saves in a shootout to help Olympiakos beat English premier league champion Manchester City 5-4 on penalty kicks Saturday after a 2-2 tie in the International Champions Cup game.
Micah Richards fired his spot-kick over the crossbar in sudden death as City failed to overhaul Brendan Rodgers' Reds at the top of Group B.
Stevan Jovetic cut in off the left flank to open the scoring in the 35th minute at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis - his fifth goal in three games in this tournament - but City's lead lasted just two minutes as Greece Under-21 striker Dimitrios Diamantakos levelled up the scoreline after a slick move.
Jovetic scored five goals in three games in the International Champions Cup
Dimitrios Diamantakos was impressive two, notching a double for his side
After David Silva was brought down in the box, an Aleksandar Kolarov penalty in the 53rd minute restored City's lead.
But Diamantakos scored again in the 66th minute, rounding Joe Hart who had raced off his line, and the match went to penalties.
Manchester City drew 2-2 with Olympiacos in Minneapolis but were defeated 5-4 on penalties
Silva and Kolarov stuck away their spot-kicks but James Milner and Scott Sinclair both failed with theirs.
After Bruno Zuculini had scored, Hart made a superb save with an outstretched leg from Avraam Papadopoulos to keep City alive in the shootout and take it to sudden death.
John Guidetti then found the net, but Richards was ultimately the fall guy, blazing his effort over, which allowed Thanasis Papazoglou to seal victory for the Greeks.
“It’s been extremely useful and the team’s been very professional, like in the first half against Liverpool,” Manchester City coach Manuel Pellegrini said of his club’s showing in the tournament. “The positives will be the quality of these games and the level that was achieved in each of these games. The negatives will be the traveling distances, and that obviously stops the team from training more.”
Gonzalez, whose club made the final 16 of the UEFA Champions League last year before losing to Manchester United, concurred.
“We are preparing ourselves for our national league in Greece but we are also preparing ourselves to participate in the Champions League” he said. “This was a great experience for us in preparation. We played like we want to play in the Champions League.”
After the game Pellegrini confirmed that former Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard is returning to the English Premier League with Manchester City on a six-month loan from MLS expansion team New York City FC.
“From next week, on Wednesday, he’ll start working with our team,” Pellegrini said. “At the moment, he will start working with our squad because he is a member of the squad. He will be in the fight for a position. We have a very good team. He is one player more. We have a lot of competition, especially in the Champions League, so he is very important to our team.”
Manchester City now return home for the FA Community Shield clash against Arsenal at Wembley on Sunday, August 10.
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