Karim Ansarifard

Asteras Tripolis held Olympiakos to a 1-1 draw at home, allowing PAOK to go alone on top of the Super League table on Sunday.

SOCCER: Olympiakos will face AEK in the quarterfinals of the Greek Cup, with the first game midweek next week and the return two weeks later. This will be the fourth consecutive season the two sides will meet in the competition. The other pairings in Monday's draw were PAOK vs Atromitos, Panionios vs Lamia and PAS Giannina vs Larissa.

Olympiakos defeated Larissa away on Sunday while welcoming new coach Oscar Garcia and Belgian striker Kevin Mirallas, who aspire to lead the Reds to their eighth consecutive league title. There were also comfortable wins for AEK and PAOK, as the Super League returned to action after the Christmas break.

Iranian international left-back Ehsan Haji Safi has reached an agreement with Greek giant Olympiakos, Tasnim news agency reported on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old soccer player is the team's first transfer in the January window.

Haji Safi signed a two-year contract with Greek Super League side Panionios in June 2017 and teamed up with his fellow Masoud Shojaei.

Olympiakos came from a goal down against Panionios at Nea Smyrni and defeated their opponents 3-1. The home team opened the score on 3 minutes via a Spiridonovic goal, but the match was decided in the first half with the reds scoring three goals (Cisse 19’, Ansarifard 37’ and 45’). The victory puts the reigning champions on 11 points, two points behind leaders AEK who have a game in hand.

Turkey's Beşiktaş secured a draw 1-1 away against Greece's Olympiacos late on March 9 in a UEFA Europa League Round of 16 first-leg matchup that provides the Black Eagles with a slight advantage before next week's second leg.

Karim Ansarifard scored twice on his European competition debut to give Olympiakos the boost it needed to see off host Osmanlispor with a 3-0 score in Ankara and advance to the last 16 of the Europa League on Thursday.