A heroic performance by goalkeeper Bartlomiej Dragowski has led Panathinaikos into the Greek Cup Final, advancing past PAOK via a dramatic penalty shoot-out that included nine kicks from each side.

The “Trifylli” knocked out the Thessaloniki giants in the second leg of their semi-finals tie on Thursday morning (AEDT) after a 6-5 win on penalties, despite the “black-whites” managing to win the match itself 1-2 inside “Leoforos” stadium.

PAOK dominated the majority of the contest in search of a goal to bring the tie back to level and they eventually broke through in the 72nd minute when wing back Jonny Otto’s cross was guided in on the volley by winger Andrija Zivkovic.

That goal was enough to send the match into extra time and the Thessaloniki club managed to strike again, this time through centre half Tomasz Kedziora’s corner header (105+1′).

There was a significant stoppage after a terrible head collision between wing backs Georgios Vagiannidis and Baba Rahman, the latter of which got the worst of it and had to be taken off the field on a stretcher.

PAOK seemed destined to make their fourth straight Cup Final when one of their old players in Dimitrios Limnios came back to haunt them, with the Greens winger striking the ball on the volley into the bottom right with the final kick of extra time (120+9′) to send the game to penalties.

The shootout began perfectly for the “black-whites” as goalkeeper Dominik Kotarski kept out Andraz Sporar’s effort with his feet.

Every spot-kick from then on went in up until winger Kiril Despodov stepped up for PAOK in their fifth penalty to win the game, with the Bulgarian’s effort into the bottom right being saved by Dragowski.

Limnios was next up for the Greens and he sent his spot-kick into the stands, giving midfielder Magomed Ozdoev a chance to win it for PAOK again.

Dragowski leaped to his right to save the Russian’s penalty and he was called upon again to save his team when centre half Willian Arao’s penalty hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced outside the goal line.

Jonny Otto sent his spot-kick into the bottom left but Dragowski again managed to keep it out, and the Greens finally went ahead in the shootout when captain Bart Schenkeveld slotted his attempt into the bottom right.

All the pressure fell on striker Mbwana Samatta to keep his team alive and an untimely slip at the penalty spot saw his spot-kick sail off target, allowing Panathinaikos to win the shootout and advance into their 31st Greek Cup Final.

This is notably the third penalty shootout the “Trifylli” has won this season, having beaten Olympique de Marseille in a Champions League qualifier and Olympiacos in the Round of 16 of the Cup.

Panathinaikos will now have to wait to see who their opponents will be in the Final, with the odds suggesting it will be Aris as they currently hold a 1-0 lead over Panetolikos in their tie.