Olympiakos and PAOK commenced their European commitments with the best possible manner, both winning their matches away from home.
The Reds defeated Slovakian champions Slovan Bratislava 0-2 while PAOK enjoyed a much needed victory in their first European match in a considerable period, defeating Norweigian side Valerenga 1-2 in Oslo.
Panathinaikos, meanwhile, suffered a potentially debilitating defeat at the hands of Czech side, Sparta Prague 3-1 in the Czech capital; a defeat which could signal an early exit from Champions League qualifying for the greens.
The two Cypriot sides in European action also enjoyed mixed results.
APOEL enjoyed a 2-0 defeat over Partizan of Serbia, while in the Europa League qualifying round, Omonia found themselves at the wrong end of two goals by Romanian minnows SC Vaslui away from home.
Champions League – Qualifying third round
Slovan Bratislava (Svk) 0
Olympiakos 2
Two goals inside the opening 21 minutes gave Olympiakos the dream start to Champions League qualifying, with Temuri Ketsbaia at the helm.
Ketsbaia masterminded Cypriot side Anorthosis Famagusta’s 2008/09 Champions League experience, and wasted little time in asserting his new side’s ambitions in 2009.
Goals from Avraam Papadopoulos and Leonardo have all but secured the Red’s passage into the next phase, putting them in the driver’s seat of the two-legged tie which will see OSFP host Bratislava in Athens this week, on Wednesday August 5.
Papadopoulos headed home after just 65 seconds from Jaouad Zairi’s corner, after confusion in the Slovak box.
Slovan responded after conceding the early goal, but went further behind in the 21st minute.
Kostandinos Mitroglou set up Leonardo for the Red’s second goal of the match, which effectively killed the game.
“Today we dominated against a very good side, so I have to be satisfied,” Ketsbaia said after his first competitive match in charge.
Sparta Prague (Cze) 3
Panathinaikos 1
Sparta Prague took revenge on Panathianikos, their win erasing memories of a loss by the same score line at this stage of the competition last year.
The Czech’s cruised to a two goal lead inside the first half, thanks to goals from Jan Holenda and Kamil Vacek, while the Greens were reeling further from Djibril Cisse’s failure to convert a penalty ten minutes before the interval.
Dimitris Salpingidis got Henk Ten Cate’s side within one goal, after he converted from a Nikos Spyropoulos cross.
Ten Cate may have rued his decision to leave big name signings, Sebastian Leto and Costas Katsouranis on the bench when Lubos Kalouda made it 3-1 to the home side.
The win was Sparta’s first in five attempts against PAO, with the Greek side having won all four previous meetings.
In fact, PAO had won all but one of nine previous meetings against Czech opponents.
Captain Patrik Berger is sure to boost Sparta’s attacking stocks when the two sides meet again on Tuesday, August 4th.
Panathinaikos must win by a two goal margin in the return leg, while the Greek press has speculated wholesale changes to the side which lost in Prague.
It is believed that Ten Cate will revert to an attacking 4-3-3 system, which the Greens trialled during he preseason.
APOEL (Cyp) 2
FK Partizan (Srb) 0
Cypriot side APOEL took a firm grip on their Champions League qualifying tie against Serbian side FK Partizan, winning 2-0 at home thanks to two second half goals.
Both sides accumulated an amazing 17 goals between them in the previous round’s qualification ties, but neither could break the deadlock in the first 45 minutes.
Ex-AEK goal keeper Dionisis Chiotis kept APOEL on level terms after a wonderful save from Partizan’s Diarra, who was unable to score on a second occasion when he found himself unmarked just before half time.
With the second half minutes old, Nenad Mirosavljevic hit the back of the net against his old club when he headed in a free kick.
Kostantinos Charalampidis conjured his second assist of the night when Marcin Zewlakow got the decisive touch to give APOEL an ultimately unassailable lead in the 85th minute.
The two sides will meet again in Serbia on Wednesday, August 5.
Europa League – Qualifying third round
Valerenga (Nor) 1
PAOK 2
PAOK are in command of their Europa League qualifying third round tie against Norway’s Valerenga, after two first half goals gave them an unassailable lead.
A first half free kick from Lino gave PAOK the lead after just 31 minutes, sending the small contingent of traveling fans into raptures.
PAOK doubled their lead barely six minutes later, after striker Zlatan Muslimovic found the target.
Muslimovic was injured in the process of scoring and was immediately substituted following the goal.
Jarl Andre Storbek reduced arrears for the hosts just before the break, giving the home side hope for the second half and the remainder of the tie.
Shocking conditions amid a torrential second half downpour reduced the quality of football in the second 45 minutes, but PAOK held on for the crucial victory.
PAOK captain Sergio Concencaio sent a clear message to his team mates, implying that the battle for qualification is far from over.
On August 6, PAOK host the Norwegians, a match in which the Macedonian side has a clear advantage, given their aggregate lead and two away goals.
“No, we have not progressed. As soon as the match at Toumba is over, and we have won, then I can say that we have progressed. It’s not right to talk about this at this stage, and we will lose if we have this mentality. We have learnt to have a winning attitude in all of our matches, and we will continue with this attitude in the next game,” he told the newspaper Sport Day.
The Portuguese international continued, suggesting the win was the PAOK’s only aim. “The main thing was the win, and not how we played. We wanted the win, which was so important given it was away from home. It’s important for us to continue to play well and progress in Europe, the club deserves it, and you can see that from its history.”