Malmo beat Olympiakos 2-0 in Group A clash
Markus Rosenberg's brace gave Malmo a famous 2-0 victory over Olympiakos in their Champions League Group Group A encounter at Swedbank Stadion on Wednesday.
Rosenberg benefited from an Olympiakos defensive mix-up to slot into an empty net four minutes from half-time and, after the Greek side were denied a stonewall penalty early in the second half, the Sweden international scored his and Malmo's second eight minutes from time to secure all three points for Age Hareide's side.
Malmo then comfortably survived a barrage of late pressure to record a precious victory - their first ever in Europe's premier club competition.
Olympiakos started brightly, enjoying a lengthy spell in Malmo's final third, but Pajtim Kasami and Konstantinos Mitroglou passed up decent opportunities to give the Greek side the lead in the early exchanges.
At the other end, Enoch Adu and Anton Tinnerholm had sighters for Malmo but neither effort troubled Roberto in the Olympiakos goal.
Rosenberg should have put Malmo ahead in the 25th minute, but his point-blank header from Magnus Eriksson's probing right-wing cross was too close to Roberto and the keeper parried to safety.
Kasami thought he had given Olympiakos the lead in the 40th minute with a well-executed scissor-kick volley, but referee Sergei Karasev blew for an infringement in the build-up.
Rosenberg atoned for his earlier miss four minutes before half-time when he capitalised on a mix-up between Roberto and centre-back Alberto Botia and slotted into an empty net to give Malmo the lead.
Olympiakos began the second half with real purpose and were denied a clear-cut penalty when Giannis Maniatis was hauled down in the area 11 minutes after the restart but, instead of pointing to the spot, Karasev booked the midfielder for simulation.
Isaac Kiese Thelin and Rosenberg then wasted decent chances to put Malmo further in front and Olympiakos manager Michel responded by introducing Alejandro Dominguez in place of the ineffectual Delvin Ndinga.
Keeper Robin Olsen then kept Malmo in the match by saving Kasami's point-blank far-post half volley and Mitroglou headed wide on the rebound, while Roberto was alert to keep out a long-range Rosenberg effort moments later.
Malmo were finding it difficult to get hold of the ball but with one well-timed counter-attack they scored a second and guaranteed their first ever Champions League victory in the process.
A long-ball found substitute Pawel Cibicki in the Olympiakos penalty area and despite the attentions of Eric Abidal, he found the necessary space to square to an unmarked Rosenberg, who made no mistake with a simple tap-in from 10 yards out.
The sucker-punch knocked the wind out of the Olympiakos' sails and, although they huffed and puffed in the closing stages, they never looked like scoring once, never mind twice, to take a share of the spoils.