Raffik Djebbour's glanced header gave Olympiakos a 1-0 win over Rubin Kazan on Thursday, putting the Russians out of the Europa League win a 2-0 aggregate score.
The Algerian inadvertently put the hosts ahead in the 19th minute when a cross-header from Ivan Marcano deflected off his head and beyond Sergei Ryzhikov in the Rubin goal.
Rubin battled and dominated for most of the first half but couldn't find a way past Northern Irish goalkeeper Roy Carroll, the Olympiakos hero from the first leg in Moscow.
The visitors could have conceded a quick second, but Ryzhikov got down to block Djebbour’s low, deliberate effort five minutes later.
On the half hour Rubin should have leveled the score when Nelson Valdez broke clear, but the Paraguayan’s attempt to go round the goalkeeper failed as Carroll smothered.
Kevin Mirallas skipped clear in the Rubin area soon after but had his shot blocked by a lunging Cesar Navas.
Obafemi Martens had Rubin’s second clear chance at the start of the second half, but his low shot was too easy for Carroll to deflect away.
Ryzhikov then beat Djebbour to a through ball by a split second to deny the hosts what would have been an easy second.
Just after the hour mark Roman Sharonov blasted a long-range effort that Carroll pushed around the post.
Ivan Marcano fired over after a give-and-go down the left flank at the other end.
Carroll then saved at point-blank range from Cesar Navas as the game became more stretched.
The Northern Irish stopper then cemented his status as man of the match by tipping a last-minute Cesar Navas header onto the crossbar and away, denying the visitors a perhaps deserved consolation.
Carroll had saved a penalty in the first leg in Moscow in his first touch for Olympiakos on his debut to protect a 1-0 away win in the first leg.
