AZ Alkmaar's draw against Olympiakos sees their Champions League dream come to an end.
Dutch side out of Champions League
Olympiakos will have to wait until their last match to determine whether they qualify for the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League as a 0-0 draw in the Netherlands sent AZ Alkmaar out of the competition.
A win for Olympiakos, teamed with Standard Liege's defeat at Arsenal, would have secured their place in the last 16 but the Greek team failed to capitalise.
It was the home side who dominated throughout and created the most chances in a relatively uneventful 90 minutes.
But their dreams ended as they failed to make the most of their opportunities, despite impressive performances from Moussa Dembele and Jermain Lens.
Chances
It was Lens who wasted the best chance of the half, blazing over the bar from six yards, albeit from a narrow angle.
Lens was enduring a wasteful evening in front of goal and shot wide once more from the edge of the box, but Moussa Dembele was more accurate and drew an unconvincing save from Nikopolidis.
Enzo Maresca's header was gathered by Romero and Dembele saw another effort blocked by Olof Mellberg as the half ended goalless.
AZ were well on top as the second half got underway, with Dembele's effort blocked behind by Michal Zewlakow.
Mendes Da Silva shot wide with an ambitious effort from well over 30 yards, Dembele dragged a left-footed effort across the face of goal and Lens' 20-yard curler also went wide as the Dutch champions struggled to break through.
Alarm
Brett Holman had another chance from 12 yards but his right-footed effort failed to test Nikopolidis.
The same could not be said of Schaars' 20-yard drive two minutes later though, as the Greek shot-stopper was forced to throw himself to his left to tip the ball around the post.
AZ boss Koeman introduced Graziano Pelle in place of Dembele as he sought to engineer an opening goal.
But it was Olympiakos who threatened next as keeper Romero, whose place had come under scrutiny in the build-up to the match after a number of recent errors, caused alarm by fumbling Giorgos Galitsios' cross.
Kostas Mitroglou was cautioned for a lunge at Hector Moreno and Raul Bravo followed him into the book for a foul on Pontus Wernbloom.
Leonardo's fiercely struck drive drew a fine save from Romero but Olympiakos could have stolen the points when Dudu fired wide from the edge of the box.
Moreno was booked in stoppage-time as AZ's run in the competition spluttered to an end.
| AZ Alkmaar |
Team Statistics |
Olympiakos |
| 0 |
Goals |
0 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 3 |
Shots on Target |
4 |
| 11 |
Shots off Target |
9 |
| 3 |
Blocked Shots |
2 |
| 2 |
Corners |
9 |
| 19 |
Fouls |
10 |
| 3 |
Offsides |
3 |
| 2 |
Yellow Cards |
2 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 80.2 |
Passing Success |
71.7 |
| 23 |
Tackles |
25 |
| 73.9 |
Tackles Success |
72 |
| 57.7 |
Possession |
42.3 |
| 48.9 |
Territorial Advantage |
51.1 |
|
