Not even Panathinaikos could put an end to the unstoppable force that is PAOK this season in Greece.

Razvan Lucescu’s men proved their dominance inside the pitch against a youthful Athenian side that had their fair share of chances, yet were not able to convert any of them mainly due to goalkeeper Paschalakis, who has also been a large contributor to the club’s success this season.

PAOK were able to break down the opposition defence by passing the ball around nicely and created several opportunities, yet they only required two minutes of game play to open the scoring.

Mauricio made the most of a corner kick to the far post and came behind the defence to head the ball past goalkeeper Dioudis.

The Brazilian injured his arm during his effort as he knocked it against the left post, but he proved too tough to bail out of the game, carrying on as if nothing had happened.

The black-and-whites maintained possession of the ball yet Panathinaikos could have equalised when Macheda found himself with the ball inside the area. Could have, but didn’t as his shot went just widely out of bounds.

Not much changed until the end of the first half and the table-leaders continued to put the pressure on Giorgos Donis’ inexperienced side. They attempted to strike on the counter. Yet, two minutes into the second half they missed the mark with a low cross from the right by Matos that was not dealt with by the green defence and eventually found the feet of oncoming Leo Jaba who used the outside of his foot to double the lead for the visitors.

All seemed lost for Panathinaikos until the 71st minute when Jaba knocked over Bouzoukis, earning a straight red card for his clumsy marking.

The home side appeared revitalised from this decision and turned the heat up on their opponents, yet were unable to find a goal that would put them back in the game.

On the other hand, PAOK also lost a few great chances of their own that would lead them to put the game to rest once and for all.

The final whistle cleared any doubts regarding the Thessaloniki club’s worth as they edge closer to the championship.

Meanwhile, yet another Thessaloniki team was triumphant last weekend against a team from Athens as Aris claimed a comfortable 2-0 win against current champions AEK at the Kleanthis Vikelidis stadium.

The hosts were always in control of the game and initially took the lead thanks to a goal by Fran Velez, yet it was rightfully cancelled out due to the scorer being in an offside position.

Eventually Aris did claim the lead though, thanks to a shot by Daniel Larsson from inside the area that Barkas couldn’t get to.

AEK had no response to this goal and let the “God of War” continue their dominance, with Aris eventually putting the game to rest thanks to Lindsay Rose’s effort on the 69th minute.

AEK’s loss means that Atromitos have once again climbed back up to third, thanks to their confident 3-0 victory over Panionios at Peristeri, with goals from Koulouris, Banana (o.g.) and N’sikulu.

Meanwhile, Olympiacos who saw their planning of the entire season fall to bits in the span of two weeks after losses against Dynamo Kiev and Lamia, had a predictably easy afternoon at Rizoupoli (0-2 against Apollon.)

This weekend the Athenian derby between AEK and Panathinaikos will take place, while Olympiacos host an in-form Aris side and PAOK will most likely face their final challenge of the season in the face of Atromitos, one of the three teams to claim a draw against them.

DAY 23 RESULTS
Aris – AEK 2-0 (32′ Larsson, 69′ Rose)
Giannena – Xanthi 0-0 (80′ sent off Michail)
OFI – AEL 0-0
Atromitos – Panionios 3-0 (18′ pen. Koulouris, 26′ OG Banana, 53′ N’Sikulu)
Levadiakos – Lamia 1-1 (38′ Adilehou – 43′ Piti)
Panathinaikos – PAOK 0-2 (2′ Mauricio, 47′ Leo Jaba, 71′ sent off Leo Jaba)
Asteras Tripolis – Panetolikos 3-0 (26′ Luis Valiente, 44′ Iglesias, 62′ Fernandez, 4′ sent off Triantafyllopoulos)
Apollon Smyrnis – Olympiacos 0-2 (24′ OG Stathis, 70′ Hassan)

DAY 24 SCHEDULE
Saturday 9 March
Xanthi – Asteras Tripolis
AEK – Panathinaikos
Sunday 10 March
AEL – Levadiakos
Apollon Smyrnis – OFI
PAOK – Atromitos
Lamia – Giannena
Olympiacos – Aris
Monday 11 March
Panteolikos – Panionios