NEC beat Olympiakos in a thrilling second leg. The visitors from Greece went ahead in the second half, but a Bryan Linssen goal forced extra time after last week’s 0-0. Against ten-man Olympiakos, NEC eventually came through thanks to an Emre Mor goal: 2-1. The Nijmegen side can now turn their attention to the final hurdle on the road to Champions League football: the play-offs against Bodø/Glimt. Dick Schreuder named an even more attacking line-up than usual, with Noé Lebreton in central midfield alongside Darko Nejasmic. Dusan Tadic also started, as did Philippe Sandler, who had not even trained with the group yet this week.From the off, NEC looked sharp and threatened several times through captain Tjaronn Chery. After ten minutes, one of his efforts hit the underside of the bar via goalkeeper Balsa Popovic. Then came two quick setbacks for the Nijmegen side. Sami Ouaissa seemed to pull a muscle and had to go off, with Emre Mor coming on in his place. That change was delayed by almost three minutes because Mor had a stuck earring. Five minutes later, Sandler also went off and Brayann Pereira replaced him. Gonzalo Crettaz then kept the home side in it with an excellent stop from the through-on-goal Gelson Martins. Right after the break, NEC suffered a huge blow. Gustavo Sa turned away from Lebreton with ease, sent the ball into the box, and via the hands of Crettaz it dropped at the feet of Ayoub El Kaabi. The striker finished ruthlessly straight away: 0-1. EredivisieWillem IIWII15 Aug 202622:30NEC NijmegenNECSuper LeagueOlympiacosOLY23 Aug 202603:00AtromitosATRFor a moment, NEC looked shaken by the goal, but they soon started pushing again. Mor and Bryan Linssen both threatened, yet Popovic was growing into the game. Then the deserved equaliser finally came in the 70th minute: Tadic broke at lightning speed, played a one-two with Clement Bischoff and put it on a plate for Linssen. The striker slid in superbly: 1-1. Celebrations erupted in De Goffert, but a tense closing phase followed. The mood lifted again ten minutes from time when Kostas Fortounis saw red after a hard challenge on Nejasmic. Extra time looked inevitable for a long spell, and substitute Kaj Sierhuis’s goal did not change that. Mor had been offside in the build-up, so the goal was ruled out. During extra time, the former top talent made up for that mistake. The ball broke kindly to Mor via Sierhuis and he needed no second invitation, rifling home for 2-1. NEC therefore qualify for the Champions League play-offs. If they also beat Bodø/Glimt there, Champions League football will definitively come to Nijmegen.
