Valencia beat Olympiakos 4

Athens, Greece:

Fernando Morientes scored a hat trick on Tuesday to lead Valencia over Olympiakos 4-2 in Group D of the Champions League. The striker headed a corner kick past goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis in the final minute of regular time to seal the game. Morientes also scored in the 34th and 39th minutes, while defender Raul Albiol netted in the 84th. "We made (mistakes) and they scored twice in a short period of time. That made the task difficult for us," Olympiakos coach Trond Sollied said. "We were always in the game, but two corners decided the result." Michalis Konstantinou had put Olympiakos ahead in the 28th minute, picking up a perfect pass from Ieroklis Stoltidis before chesting down the ball and finding the net with a right-foot shot. But Morientes silenced a capacity crowd of 33,000 at the Karaiskakis Stadium when he leveled off a cross from David Villa. He struck again on the rebound after Nikopolidis saved a shot by Miguel Angulo. With four regular starters injured or suspended, Valencia launched successive attacks in the second half. But Nikopolidis made several impressive saves before Olympiakos leveled in the 65th when Nery Castillo scored off a pass from Predrag Djordjevic. Albiol stunned the hosts with six minutes to go, scoring from the edge of the area after a corner kick. Morientes landed his header five minutes later. "There are still 15 points to take from our games, so we have a chance," Sollied said. (AP)