AEK overcomes PAOK to keep in range of first

AEK's Orbelin Pineda, scores the 1-0 goal during the football match between AEK and PAOK, for the 9th round of the Super League championship, at the OPAP Arena stadium, on Monday, October 30, 2023. Photo: AMNA/Panagiotis Moshandreou

Dimitri Kallos
31 October 2023 10:42am

Instagram

AEK have drawn first blood in the Double-headed eagles derby this season, downing their northern rivals to stay within range of first spot.

Enosi defeated PAOK 2-0 at “Agia Sophia” Stadium on Tuesday morning (AEDT) in the Greek Super League’s ninth round, giving them their second derby victory of the season.

The reigning champions took the lead 17 minutes in after playmaker Petros Mantalos’ cross was headed in by midfielder Orbelin Pineda.

AEK then pounced on an error at the back in the second half to double their advantage with midfielder Damian Szymanski crossing the ball for winger Niclas Eliasson, who subsequently scored to seal a vital success.

A brace from Daniel Podence secured a 0-2 away win for Olympiacos against OFI, keeping them on the toes of the new league leaders, Panathinaikos.

The Piraeus side’s opening goal came in the tenth minute following some excellent build-up play which eventually finished with forward Giorgos Masouras delivering a ball in for teammate Podence to polish off.

The Portuguese winger then bagged his second after some good work from striker Stefan Jovetic afforded him a golden chance which he took (54’).

Panathinaikos earned their third 5-0 victory of the campaign on Monday morning, this time against Panserraikos in a result that consolidated their recent ascension into first place.

The tone of the match was set in the very first minute as Andraz Sporar knocked in a long ball from Ruben Perez, immediately putting visitors on the back foot.

The Greens kept the momentum going with two more goals before the break, first through an attempted clearance own goal by right back Panagiotis Deligiannidis (10’) and then through a penalty by Sporar (43’).

A second yellow to Panserraikos midfielder Ismahila Ouedraogo (45+1’) capped off an horrific opening half and the “Trifylli” capitalised on the extra man advantage with two more strikes via midfielder Adam Gnezda Cerin (58’) and winger Daniel Mancini (77’).

The impressive triumph came off the back of the decision to award Panathinaikos a 0-3 victory in the derby with Olympiacos last week as well as deduct the “red-whites” of a point, making the Greens the new league leaders in the process.

Aris recorded a much-needed 2-0 success over Giannina at “Kleanthis Vikelidis” ground to earn back-to-back league wins for the first time this campaign.

The “yellow-blacks” pulled ahead in the 55th minute, thanks to a fantastic header by winger Shapi Suleymanov from left back Franco Ferrari’s cross.

The Epirutans suffered a setback soon after as midfielder Federico Acevedo was sent off for his second yellow card (61’), with the Thessaloniki club later ensuring the three points through a strike from substitute Alvaro Zamora (75’).

Lamia beat Asteras Tripolis 0-1 away with a late goal to climb into fifth position.

Substitutes Zoran Tosic and Sotiris Tsiloulis combined perfectly to clinch the win at the death for the Fthiotida outfit, with Tosic’s cross being knocked in by a leaping Tsiloulis to secure Lamia of a third consecutive victory.

Volos and Atromitos each finally got to winning ways with successful outings against Kifisia and Panetolikos respectively.

The Magnesia team beat their opponents 2-1 on Sunday morning in a chaotic fixture that saw the visitors go down to nine men at one point.

Volos surged ahead via a goal from Facundo Bertoglio (21’) with Kifisia falling further behind 50 minutes later as midfielder Luka Caplan was handed his second yellow.

The hosts capitalised only four minutes later through winger Milos Deletic, though the travellers did get back into it with an effort from former Volos striker Ognjen Ozegovic (82’).

Kifisia then saw another player go off for a second yellow just two minutes later, this time being midfielder Mateus Santos, as the Magnesia side hung on for a much-desired triumph.

Atromitos delivered a 3-2 home win over Panetolikos for their fans to celebrate, putting themselves into 11th place as a result.

The Agrinio club opened the scoring in the 21st minute through striker Frederico Duarte before a second half double by winger Gaetan Robail (49’, 73’) put the Peristeriotes in front.

Wing back Georgios Liavas then made it level with a striker in the 82nd minute, though Atromitos would restore their lead via an injury time goal from forward Nikos Vergos in what proved to be the winner (90+1’).

Panetolikos finished the game with only ten on the field due to midfielder Facundo Perez eanring his second booking deep into injury time (90+11’).

Greek Super League Ladder (games in hand)

1-Panathinaikos: 22

2-Olympiacos: 21

3-AEK: 20

4-PAOK: 17

5-Lamia: 15

6-Aris: 14

7-OFI: 13

8-Panserraikos: 9 (8)

9-Asteras Tripolis: 8

10-Kifisia: 7