AEK got a crucial win in their UEFA Europa League campaign with a determined 1-0 victory over Group I rivals Benfica at OAKA. Panathinaikos meanwhile, endured late drama including a missed penalty by opponents Dinamo Buchurest as they won 0-1 away from home.

AEK                     1
Benfica (POR)     0

Sweden defender Daniel Majstorovic’s towering header two minutes before half-time proved enough to seal the three points for Dusan Bajevic’s side, despite AEK losing defender Nikos Georgeas later on after he collected two yellow cards.

It was the visitors who threatened first with Ramires shooting straight at Sebastian Saja. Georgeas registered the hosts’ first effort on goal after 16 minutes, and slowly AEK began to find their way through the Benfica rearguard.

AEK striker Ismael Blanco missed three chances to open the scoring, twice heading wide and volleying over from the industrious Georgeas’ cross.

Benfica forward Oscar Cardozo almost punished Blanco’s profligacy after 41 minutes when he flashed a header wide, but it proved a prelude to the hosts taking the lead through Majstorovic, who headed powerfully into the top right corner of Julio Cesar’s goal from former Benfica man Gustavo Manduca’s corner.

AEK had Saja to thank twice within two minutes of the restart after he denied Angel Di Maria and Javier Saviola as Benfica began the second half strongly, before Blanco fired over the bar from another Georgeas cross.

Saja showed his worth again saving from Cardozo’s free-kick and Fabio Coentrao’s vicious shot on 74 minutes as the visitors chased an equaliser which never came, with AEK holding firm despite Georgeas’ dismissal on 86 minutes.

Dinamo Buchuret (ROM)    0
Panathinaikos                    1

A 79th-minute strike by Giorgos Karagounis secured PAO the three group points after Claudiu Niculescu missed a penalty two minutes from time for the hosts in Group F.

Having started their campaign with a 3-1 defeat by Galatasaray, PAO badly needed points on the board and Karagounis duly obliged with a late strike in a game of few chances.

Though the hosts will certainly rue their late penalty miss, Dinamo are still very much in the mix ahead of Matchday 3 after having beaten SK Sturm Graz in their opener.

PAO were quick to settle into a neat passing rhythm, with Karagounis pulling the strings in central midfield and Sebastian Leto helping on the left flank as they probed a Romanian defence which kept striker Dimitris Salpingidis under wraps.

Just before the break, Dinamo’s Manuel Scarlatache curled over an inviting cross for Andrei Cristea but keeper Alexandros Tzorvas read the danger and was quickly out to intercept, while Salpingidis came agonisingly close to latching on to a loose ball in a goalmouth melee.

The Greek striker came a lot closer 10 minutes into the second half after a clever move saw substitute Sotiris Ninis cross from the left and Kostas Katsouranis flick the ball back for Salpingidis to send in a rasping shot which Emilian Dolha did well to smother.

The favour was returned soon afterwards, with Salpingidis drawing the keeper out of position on the right side before laying it off for Katsouranis to try his luck, only for Dolha to get back in time to scramble the ball away.

A draw looked very much on the cards, only for Karagounis to rifle a shot home through the Dinamo defence from outside the area after the ball was laid off by substitute Ante Rukavina.

There was more drama to come, though, after Mattias Bjarsmyr brought down Cristea in the area and substitute Niculescu, who had only been on the pitch for two minutes, sent the spot-kick wide of the left-hand post.