A strong Greek presence awaits UEFA’s club competitions as the trio of AEK, Panathinaikos and PAOK all confirmed their places, joining Olympiacos in advancing to the League Phase.
The three Greek clubs each recorded important results in the second legs of the play-offs on Friday morning (AEST), with AEK and PAOK each securing impressive home wins to advance in the Conference League and Europa League respectively.
Enosi’s effort stood out tremendously as they defeated RSC Anderlecht 2-0 at “Agia Sophia” Stadium to progress 3-1 on aggregate.
The “yellow-blacks” seized control of the tie in the 20th minute when Aboubakary Koita put them in front.
The hosts later consolidated their lead just minutes into the second half via a wonderful goal from range by Dereck Kutesa (48′), helping AEK to a famous win and hard-earned qualification into the Conference League after navigating three qualifying rounds.
PAOK produced a dominant display against Rijeka at “Toumba” Stadium, beating them 5-0 to win the tie 5-1 on aggregate.
The Thessaloniki giants started very well as they levelled the tie in the 12th minute through Soualiho Meite before Giannis Konstantelias gave them the outright advantage with a strike in the 25th minute.
The Double-headed eagle of the North showed no signs of slowing in the second half as Fedor Chalov bagged their third in the 56th minute.
Rijeka’s night took another turn in the 71st minute when Ante Majstorovic received his second booking, putting them down to ten players.
Any slight chance Rijeka had of getting back into the contest was soon squashed as Giorgos Giakoumakis (77′) and Dimitris Pelkas (89′) added the finishing touches to their great triumph.
Panathinaikos was by no means as impressive as their fellow Hellenic clubs, though they did enough in their away clash with Samsunspor as they held on for a 0-0 draw to win 2-1 on aggregate.
The Turkish outfit was the better of the two teams, though the Greens did well to preserve their advantage and confirm their place in the Europa League alongside PAOK.
The results mean all four of Greece’s biggest clubs will feature in Europe this season (Olympiacos having qualified directly to the Champions League), a positive result that could boost the country’s overall UEFA coefficient.
Cyprus arguably performed just as admirably as Greece with their teams recording huge successes, including an historic maiden qualification for Pafos into the Champions League.
The reigning Cypriot champions scored in the 89th minute through Jaja to earn a 1-1 draw against Crvena Zvezda at home on Wednesday morning (AEST), winning 3-2 on aggregate and sealing their place in the Champions League.
Omonia overcame major obstacles to defeat Wolfsberger via penalties on Friday morning, booking their place in the Conference League.
The Nicosia club played out a 1-0 clash after 120 minutes against the Austrian side, with the tie finishing 2-2 on aggregate.
The hosts found the tie-levelling strike in the 39th minute through Willy Semedo, though things got complicated just before the hour break when Mateo Maric received a straight red (59′).
Omonia navigated the disadvantage remarkably well as the match proceeded into extra time and eventually a penalty shoot-out, which they won 5-4 to officially confirm their place in the League Phase.
They will be joined by AEK Larnaca, who suffered a crushing 0-4 home defeat to Brann on Thursday morning in the second leg of their Europa League tie.
The Cypriot club came into the clash 2-1 down on aggregate and their task of overturning the deficit became near impossible when Enric Saborit was given a straight red in the 39th minute.
The Norwegian team made the most of the advantage as they went on to score four unanswered goals.
The first came just before half time via Niklas Castro (45+1′) with the other three coming in the second half through Mads Hansen (69′), Fredrik Knudsen (75′), and Joachim Soltvedy (87′).
