Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 2-0 Olympiakos

Two goals in the space of six minutes put Dnipro in control of their Europa League last-32 against Olympiakos as they won the first leg 2-0.

Jaba Kankava opened the scoring five minutes into the second half and just five minutes later Ruslan Rotan's free-kick doubled the hosts' advantage.

Olympiakos struggled to create clear chances and left Ukraine without an away goal and with an uphill task facing them in the second leg.

The match was slow to get going but Dnipro eventually built up a head of steam and had a flurry of chances, only for Yevhen Konoplyanka and Jaba Kankava to miss the target before Roberto Jimenez comfortably held Egidio's shot.

It took until the half-hour mark for Olympiakos to have a meaningful sight of goal, but Alejandro Dominguez's effort was blocked.

Douglas Silva and Matheus Nascimento then fired wide for Dnipro as the number of missed chances mounted.

However, they proved significantly more clinical in the second half.

Kankava broke the deadlock in the 50th minute when he fired home from the edge of the area after being set up by Roman Zozulya and five minutes later Rotan rifled home a free-kick after Egidio was fouled 25 yards out.

Olympiakos sought a swift response, but Dimitrios Siovas' bullet header went wide and Ibrahim Afellay failed to find the target from the edge of the area.

Konoplyanka missed the target with another chance for the hosts with 15 minutes to go, but they then largely shut up shop, content with a two-goal cushion and the knowledge that Olympiakos had failed to score a valuable away goal in the tie.

ends