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Sport 21 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 26 FEBRUARY 2014 SPORTTODAY FOOTBALL David Moyes' toothless Manchester United tumble to new low in Athens Sloppy Zenit made to pay by four-goal Dortmund Olympiakos .................. 2 Manchester United ....... 0 ARSENAL loanee Joel Campbell scored a stunning goal to leave Manchester United with plenty of work to do in order to stay in the Champions League after losing 2-0 at Olympiacos. Campbell has not kicked a ball for the Gunners since signing in 2011, but he showed superb quality to score the second goal in a relatively straightforward 2-0 victory for the Greek side. Alejandro Dominguez's clever backheel put the hosts ahead in the first half and from then on in Moyes' team rarely looked like be- ing able to get back into the first leg of this last-16 tie. Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vid- ic had talked up United's chances of winning the Champions League in the build-up to the match, but it was easy to see why Moyes' side weren't fancied to land the trophy going into this match in the port suburb of the Greek capital. Rooney worked tirelessly, as he al- ways does, and Vidic put in a solid performance at the back. But United's midfield, as it has done for much of this season, looked awfully pedestrian for the majority of the match, which was played out amid a booming atmosphere inside the Karaiskakis Stadium. Olympiacos, who are bidding to make the last eight for only the sec- ond time, made a mockery of the away side's billing as favourites. Without the cup-tied Juan Mata and Adnan Januzaj, who was over- looked, United looked toothless in attack. With United 11 points adrift of the top four in the Premier League, winning the Champions League may be the best way to get back into the competition next year, but they will have to win by three clear goals in the second leg on March 19 to make it through to the quarter- finals after this latest sub-par per- formance. Olympiacos fans in all four cor- ners of the stadium made their message clear to United from the warm-up: they were not welcome. The jeering started when the play- ers came out for their pre-match drills and it did not stop for the rest of the night. Despite the hostile noise being belted out from the stands, United's early showing did not indicate they would buckle under pressure as Ol- ympiacos coach Michel suggested they would on Monday. That was all to change. Patrice Evra went into the book in the second minute, when he handled Campbell's cross. But just when United started to settle into a rhythm, Olympiacos opened them up. Chris Smalling slipped and the ball made its way to Dominguez, who ran through on goal. Only a superb sliding tackle from Vidic stopped Olympia- cos taking the lead. What followed was a tepid 20-minute period of play. United always took the safe option on the attack. Olympiacos pushed forward, meaning Rooney spent as much time in his own half as the opposition's. The only time United entered the home box, Van Persie was out-mus- cled by Kostas Manolas - a defender Moyes almost signed at Everton. Tom Cleverley and Giannis Ma- niatis both had weak shots at either end of the pitch, but the overall quality of the game was poor. The home crowd re- mained almost deafen- ingly loud, however, and the decibel level rose again as Hernan Perez cut in from the left f lank and fired a powerful drive which a relieved David de Gea watched hit the side-netting. The energetic Dominguez blotted his copy book by play acting while trying to win a penalty, but he soon redeemed himself in the eyes of the noisy home supporters when he cleverly put Olympiacos ahead. Maniatis took advantage of Evra's weak clearance, driving at the Unit- ed defence before unleashing a low shot which Dominguez diverted past De Gea with a clever backheel. United hung on until half-time, but nine minutes after the break their troubles worsened as Olym- piacos doubled their lead. Zenit ........................... 2 Borussia Dortmund ...... 4 MARCO Reus and Robert Lewand- owski combined to put Borus- sia Dortmund on the brink of the Champions League quarter-finals with a 4-2 win over Zenit St Peters- burg at Stadion Petrovski. Reus made one goal for Henrikh Mkhitaryan and scored another as Dortmund took advantage of a poor first-half performance from their hosts to go 2-0 up in the round of 16 first leg clash. Zenit improved after the break and twice pulled a goal back, through Oleg Shatov and Hulk's penalty, but both times Lewand- owski responded, with Reus the provider for the second to cap an impressive display from the Ger- many midfielder. With the Russian league still not back from its winter break, Zenit have played no competitive foot- ball for two months - and they were caught cold by a lightning fast start from last year's beaten finalists. In the fourth minute, Reus stayed strong to muscle his way through the Zenit defence and, when he was finally stopped, Mkhitaryan latched on to the loose ball and fired home. It got worse for Zenit barely 60 seconds later with Mkhitaryan this time playing a supporting role as his cross found Kevin Grosskreutz, who knocked the ball down for Re- us to lash home and make it 2-0. The bad news kept on coming for the hosts, with Andrey Arshavin forced off the pitch after 15 minutes with an apparent hamstring prob- lem, replaced by veteran Ukraine international Anatoliy Tymoschuk. Lewandowski had a shot from a narrow angle saved by Yuri Lodigin as the German side went for a third, while Zenit's best chance of the half came in the form of a Hulk strike from distance which went wide. It looked like more of the same at the start of the second half when Lewandowski's effort was turned behind for a corner by Lodigin, but the hosts hauled themselves back into the game just before the hour, albeit in inelegant fashion. A scramble in the Dortmund box saw the ball fall to Jose Rondon. His effort struck the post, but the loose ball ended up at the feet of Shatov, who had a simple task to convert. It was only temporary respite, though, as Lewandowski restored the two-goal lead for Dortmund, playing a neat exchange with com- patriot Lukasz Piszczek and man- aging to dig the ball out from under his feet to slide it past Lodigin. Piszczek turned villain in the 69th minute when he was adjudged, somewhat harshly, to have fouled Viktor Faitzulin in the box, and Hulk made no mistake from the spot. But again Dortmund made an im- mediate response, as Lewandowski netted from a narrow angle having been played in by Reus. It was no less than the visitors de- served and Jurgen Klopp's men will be confident of taking another step towards emulating last year's hero- ics when the tie heads back to Ger- many next month. Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick of Manchester United react as they restart the game Robert Lewandowski (L) of Dortmund celebrates his team's third goal with team mate Lukas Piszczek Tonight UEFA Champions League 20:45 Galatasaray - Chelsea 20:45 Schalke 04 - Real Madrid