Liverpool conceded a last-gasp equaliser to Alexios Alexandris, who rounded off a good night for himself in this third-round first leg to enable the Greek champions to preserve their unbeaten European record at home.
Logic and statistics pointed, persuasively so, towards a Liverpool defeat last night but the dream of an extended run in the UEFA Cup lives on for the Merseysiders after a splendid performance of diligence and character.
Olympiakos had made much of a 15game unbeaten home sequence in Champions' League fixtures, but on a night when a sense of organisation always seemed likely to eclipse a sense of flair, Liverpool were superior in almost every department and will now feel justifiably confident of reaching the final 16.
Liverpool's coach Gerard Houllier is prone to the occasional flutter and last night the gambler which lurks within him was clearly evident.
The easy option would have been to have used Emile Heskey as a battering ram and lone striker. But, no, Michael Owen was also included, such is the value placed upon an away goal in European football these days. The Frenchman's sense of adventure was to be well rewarded.
In his desperation to grab possession and make a contribution, however, Owen was constantly drawn backwards to search for the ball and help his midfield, a source of some joy for Olympiakos who promptly attempted to seize a curiously disjointed game by the throat.
Having quickly identified Djimi Traore as Liverpool's weakest defensive link, the Greeks soon poured down the left flank bearing not gifts but carrying genuine menace.
Liverpool survived a decidedly uncomfortable period simply because Sami Hyppia and Markus Babbel held firm in the centre, thus protecting their goalkeeper Sander Westerveld whose confidence has been shredded in recent weeks, more often than not by his own clumsy deeds.
To Houllier's absolute delight, however, the only real danger Westerveld faced during the course of a dull opening half was the nauseous smog.
The Dutchman did flap at several crosses, but he always will. Liverpool's football was always intelligently paced, though, often nicely orchestrated and usually precise enough to move them between defence and attack without too much discomfort.
Even so they did not look like scoring until they did just that, and only seven minutes before the interval. A lovely goal it was too, Heskey heading a Jamie Carragher throw into the path of Nick Barmby who swept a fine rising drive into the roof of the net. Needless to say, the cauldron fell silent.
The goal drained away much of Olympiakos' enthusiasm and confidence, and in truth Liverpool really should have inflicted further damage. They certainly went close. Heskey turned a close-range header only fractionally wide just after the re-start and Barmby struck the underside of the bar.
And then, after so much shadow boxing, the evening finally caught light.
Twenty minutes after the interval, unexpectedly it must be said, Olympiakos squared the game when Alexandris's spectacular volley after a cross from the Brazilian Giovanni flew beyond Westerveld.
Fleetingly, Scouse nerves were on edge, though they were to be calmed almost immediately when Steven Gerrard rose splendidly to head home a Barmby corner.
Really, that should have been it but, ridiculously bearing in mind the late profligacy of Liverpool's substitute Vladimir Smicer who was on for Owen, Olympiakos drew level at the death, Alexandris punishing defensive hesitancy after latching on to a team-mate's header.
OLYMPIAKOS: Eleftheropoulos; Mavrogenidis (Giannakopoulos, 57), Mamanatidis, Anatolakis, Kontis; Pursanidis (Luciano, h-t), Patsatzoglou, Zetterberg (Georgatos, 71), Djordjevic; Giovanni, Alexandris.
LIVERPOOL: Westerveld; Carragher, Hyypia, Babbel, Traore (Staunton, h-t); Barmby, Hamann, Gerrard, Murphy (McAllister, 90); Heskey, Owen (Smicer, 66).
Referee: R Temmink (Neth).
