Madrid held by battling Olympiakos

LONDON, England -- Olympiakos denied Real Madrid the chance to qualify for the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League with two games to spare after holding the Spanish side to a 0-0 draw in Athens on Tuesday night.

However, the Greek side were edged into second place in Group C on goal difference after Lazio won 2-1 at home to Werder Bremen.

Real beat Olympiakos 4-2 at the Bernabeu two weeks ago, but were this time frustrated after twice hitting the woodwork.

Robinho was denied early on by a fine save from keeper Antonios Nikopolodis and in the 28th minute Ieroklis Stoltidis deflected a corner by Wesley Sneijder onto the post.

Seven minutes later, winger Sneijder set up Ruud van Nistelrooy but his fellow Dutchman's chip over the keeper hit the crossbar.

Lomana LuaLua squandered a golden chance for the home side when he fired wide with Predrag Djordjevic free in a better position to score.

Former Madrid defender Raul Bravo sent a fizzing shot just wide from distance before hobbling off injured in the 53rd minute, while LuaLua had a shot blocked and Luciano Galletti miskicked the rebound.

Striker LuaLua, signed from English side Portsmouth in the summer, volleyed over on 67 minutes, while at the other end Nikopolodis was in solid form as he made a series of saves to thwart the visitors.

The result left unbeaten Real on top of the table with eight points from four outings.

Tommaso Rocchi scored twice in the second half to give Lazio victory over Bremen, with both sides reduced to 10 men in Rome.

The Italian netted the opener in the 57th minute as he bravely followed up when his penalty attempt was saved by keeper Tim Wiese and poked the ball into the net off the post.

The spot-kick was awarded after Mourad Meghni was fouled by Naldo, while the Brazilian defender almost made amends soon after when he lashed a 20-yard free-kick that 43-year-old keeper Marco Ballotta did well to save.

Rocchi made up for a bad miss at the start of the match when Meghni's speculative pass caught out Naldo and he clipped the ball over the advancing Wiese to make it 2-0 in the 68th minute.

The home side had Emilson Sanchez Cribari sent off in the 86th minute, and Diego pulled one back for the Germans from the penalty spot soon after before he was also given a red card. E-mail to a friend