Horror form continues to plague AEK and Panathinaikos

The miserable times seem to be unending for two giants of Greek Football, Panathinaikos and AEK, as they suffered consecutive defeats, causing an uproar on social media against their owners and managers.

Enosi was unsuccessful against Aris as the Thessalonians took the three points in the battle between the two yellow and black sides to maintain their push for a top six finish.

Aris defeated the Athenians 2-1 at home on Thursday morning (AEDT) in the Hellenic Championship’s 21st round, moving to within a point of sixth-placed Giannina.

The match was marred by the death this week of 19-year-old Alkiviadis Kampanos, a supporter of Aris. Greek authorities are investigating and have arrested a 23-year-old man, who is believed to be a fan of rival team PAOK. Aris fans placed a banner in memory of the youngster and the players wore a black armband.

As far as the match went, midfielder Pape Alioune Ndiaye opened the scoring late into the first half (44’) and kept their lead until a spectacular bicycle kick from AEK striker Sergio Araujo brought it level. Defender Emanuel Sakic secured a last-minute winner (90+5’) to earn three points for the home side.

A late resurgence from OFI saw them produce a major 3-2 result over near rivals Panathinaikos to go just one point behind them. The Greens struck first through an own-goal by midfielder Miguel Mellado (18’) before the Cretans equalised via defender Vahid Selimovic (25’).

The visitors went ahead again after some good pressure led to a tap-in by winger Sebastian Palacios (42’) and they held strong until the 74th minute when Lucas Villafanez’ was sent off following a second yellow card.

OFI capitalised on the extra-man advantage and bagged two headed goals from forwards Lucas Phellype (85’) and Kosmas Tsilianidis (90+5’) to steal the three points.

Olympiacos exacted revenge on Panetolikos for their cup loss, beating them 3-1 to reach the 50 points’ mark. The Piraeus giants started with a fury, scoring twice in the first four minutes through playmaker Mathieu Valbuena (1’) and winger Garry Rodrigues (4’).

The Agrinio side got one back through winger Jonathan Morsay (28’) but Rodrigues sealed the win with his second in the 73rd minute.

PAOK bagged a comfortable 0-2 away success over Apollon Smyrnis thanks to goals from midfielders Thomas Murg (31’) and Jasmin Kurtic (90+2’ penalty), extending their lead over AEK to five points.

Asteras Tripolis have jumped into fourth after a brace from winger Alberto Riera (3’, 35’) helped his club to a 2-0 victory over Giannina.

Volos and Ionikos played out a 1-1 draw in a match full of chances. The Magnesia outfit got the first breakthrough with midfielder Nicolas Oroz’ goal (40’) before it was cancelled out by striker Vasilios Mantzis (72’) after a fumble from goalkeeper Symeon Papadopoulos.

Atromitos and Lamia’s match was postponed after positive Covid cases were found among the Fthiotida squad.