Two losses by two teams led a disastrous week for Greece in the Europa League Qualifiers. Asteras Tripolis couldn’t get past their one goal, conceding three to Austrian team SK Rapid Wien. Fellow Greek national, Thanos Petsos scored Rapid Wien’s first goal in the 26th minute, while Greece’s Sebastián Grazzini scored Asteras’ only goal.
Xanthi fell by two points, but managed to score one goal in the 84th minute in their game against Belgium’s R. Standard de Liège. Xanthi’s new recruit, Canadian Julian de Guzman showed his worth, scoring the team’s only goal.
Champions League play offs didn’t bring any luck to Greece again.
PAOK couldn’t get past Ukraine’s Metalist Kharkiv, only just managing to score a late goal by forward Tomáš Necid, finishing the game in a 1-1 draw. Ukraine came out on top, sealing a 3-1 aggregate victory against PAOK FC in the third qualifying round.
Cyprus’s APOEL FC had the same luck. Their game against Slovenian team NK Maribor ended in a disappointing 0-0 loss, but APOEL’s luck went from bad to worse when Maribor advanced to the UEFA Champions League play-offs on away goals at the expense of APOEL FC.
