By Barney Spender
ATHENS, Mach 22 - Two goals by Cyprus striker
Michalis Konstantinou helped Olympiakos Piraeus to a 3-1 win
over Larissa in the first leg of their Greek Cup semi-final at
the Karaiskakis Stadium on Wednesday.
Runaway league leaders Olympiakos, aiming for a second
successive double, suffered an early setback when Gabriel
Schurrer was sent off in the 25th minute.
Larissa's Guga, a January signing from Boavista, was fouled
by Schurrer just outside the penalty area when he only had
goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolis to beat.
Five minutes later, however, Konstantinou settled the home
crowd's nerves when was on target with the opening goal and
Ieroklis Stoltidis added a second goal before halftime.
Larissa came back into the match in the second period when
Stathis Aloneftis side-stepped Nikopolidis to fire home.
Larissa, who were also reduced to 10 men when Marino Helder
was dismissed after 67 minutes, struggled to contain Olympiakos
who took a useful lead into the second leg when Konstantinou
netted his second goal nine minutes from time.
In the other semi-final played on Tuesday, AEK Athens won
the first leg 3-0 against third division Agrotikos Asteras.
The second legs of both ties are on April 12.