Olympiakos look to LuaLua to cause Chelsea problems

Olympiakos believe they have kept their European dream alive after holding Chelsea to a 0-0 draw with a solid performance in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.

"We knew that it would be hard to create lots of chances against this team," the Olympiakos coach, Takis Lemonis, said. "We created a decent number of chances without managing to score but it is a result that allows us to dream of more.

"I was really pleased by the atmosphere and by the way the team followed our tactics. We were rarely threatened by Chelsea and we managed to have several organised attacks."

Lemonis conceded the Greek champions had missed the injured Lomana LuaLua but was hopeful the striker would boost his attack for the match at Stamford Bridge on 5 March.

"I don't usually like to single out individual players but we certainly missed LuaLua. He is a key part of the way Olympiakos play and the way we set up our game," the coach said.

"We hope he will be fit for the second leg because he is a very important link in the Olympiakos chain."

Olympiakos reached the last 16 of the Champions League for the first time in nine years after some impressive performances in their group stage against Real Madrid, Werder Bremen and Lazio and they created the better of what few opportunities there were in Tuesday's first leg at the Karaiskakis Stadium.

"We still have hope in this tie," said their captain, Predrag Djordjevic. "Nothing has been decided. Of course the return match will be very difficult, but we will look to score. If we manage to do that then we will have high hopes for reaching the quarter-finals."