Panathinaikos stepped up in phenomenal fashion as they conquered RC Lens, guided by a rapturous crowd that filled out the Olympic Stadium and served as the 12th man to help lift the Greens towards an historic European win.
The “Trifylli” delivered a crucial victory for the over 60,000 fans in attendance at the Olympic Stadium on Friday morning (AEST), defeating RC Lens 2-0 to progress 3-2 on aggregate in their and book their spot in the league stage of the Europa Conference League.
The match nearly began horrifically for Panathinaikos after conceding a penalty, though their goalkeeper Bartlomiej Dragowski rose to the occasion and dived to his right to keep out Florian Sotoca’s effort (15′).
The Greens made their opponents pay for their mistake in the 62nd minute after winger Facundo Pellistri launched an attack that eventually saw the ball fall to him in the box, with the Uruguayan slotting it into the bottom left (62′).
The goal lifted the morale of the thousands of fans as well as the players, giving them faith in securing qualification.
The “Trifylli” managed to stun the French outfit again with a swift counter-attack in the 85th minute that saw winger Daniel Mancini find Tete in the box, with the Brazilian knocking the ball in with his weaker right foot to put his team in front on aggregate.
Panathinaikos had to fight hard to keep Lens off the scoresheet, thanks in large part to Dragowski who had a stellar performance between the sticks.
The Greens hung on to their lead to secure a major qualification over a massive team and seal their spot in the ECL league phase.
The result means Greece will have three clubs competing in Europe with Olympiacos qualifying automatically to the Europa League for winning the ECL last season and PAOK now joining them after dominating Shamrock Rovers in their play-offs tie.
The Thessaloniki giants defeated the Irish side 0-2 in their away second leg fixture, winning 6-0 on aggregate.
PAOK went in front in the 64th minute through a strike by midfielder Magomed Ozdoev before winger Kiril Despodov doubled it soon after (75′).
The positive results continued for the Cypriot sides as Pafos earned a 3-0 home triumph to win 3-1 on aggregate to qualify for the ECL league stage.
The hosts equalised the tie via striker Jaja (28′) before taking the lead outright just minutes later through centre David Goldar (31′).
An early penalty in the second half from winger Muamer Tankovic (49′) gave the Cypriot club breathing room, with the goal proving to be the final decisive moment of the contest.
Omonia suffered a 0-1 away loss to Zira FK due to a 79th minute winner from Raphael Schorr Utzig, though they too advanced to the main stage of the ECL with their 6-0 win in the first leg proving more than sufficient to ensure their qualification.
APOEL represented the only disappointment of the play-offs after they lost to FK Rigas on penalties, costing them a spot in the Europa League as they will now drop to the ECL.
The Cypriot side won the game 2-1 in regulation time to bring the tie level on aggregate at 3-3.
They fell behind in the 40th minute when Rigas striker Janis Ikaunieks found the back of the net.
Needing two goals, APOEL managed to halve the deficit in the 75th minute through defender Mateo Susic before winger Anastasios Donis stepped up with a goal at the death to bring it level (90+4′).
The tie went into extra time and eventually needed a shootout to split the two teams, which Rigas managed to win 4-2 after misses from APOEL players Kingsley Sarfo and Lasha Dvali.
