Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
It’s Greece frightening for Clarets
AFTER the effort put in by Burnley, they did not deserve to lose like this.
They did not deserve to see their European dream left hanging by a thread because of a controversial refereeing call.
Slavko Vincic’s decisionmaking was erratic all night, but the official outdid himself when he awarded Olympiakos a contentious penalty for handball against Ben Gibson and dismissed him for a second bookable offence.
The ball hit Gibson’s chest before his left arm and to deem his action deliberate was staggering.
Konstantinos Fortounis converted the spot-kick for Olympiakos’ third goal to break brave Burnley’s hearts as they had been in the tie until that moment.
The Greeks went ahead through a sweet free-kick by Fortounis from 25 yards after Phil Bardsley fouled Daniel Podence.
The visitors showed huge character to battle back from conceding to level through Chris Wood’s penalty and had Olympiakos worried at half-time.
It was an unhappy return for keeper Tom Heaton as the Burnley captain made his comeback 11 months after dislocating his shoulder. He might have got to Andreas Bouchalakis’ header for Olympiakos’s second.
Worse was to follow for Burnley when Gibson was ridiculously dismissed and Fortounis slotted home.