AEK showed the mentality of a champion and celebrated a thriller victory in Nice and the seat of the bottom of the standings, Ionikos!
Despite the fact that he faced many difficulties against the fighting hosts and found himself behind in the score with a goal of Sheba in the 38th minute, Union showed character and managed to pull off a complete turnaround with two goals in the final minutes! Initially, the Vida equalized with a header in the 82nd minute, before o Cumber took advantage of Mandalo’s wonderful assist (the two came on as substitutes for Almeida in the 74th), giving his team the victory in the 92nd 2-1 and the precious three-pointer.
Thus, AEK remained at the top, reducing its gap to the leader Panathinaikos to one point, while Ionikos, despite its very good effort, experienced its 13th defeat in this year’s championship, remaining at the bottom of the standings.
In the minds of the coaches:
With 5-3-2 lined up his team o Dimitris Spanos, who had Massas as the only absentee. Houtesiotis started under the posts, with a trio of stoppers in front of him: Tsigrinski, Souza and Romao. Mygas on the right wing, Valerianos on the left and Kanias, Sakic and Fatiga in the midfield trio. The attacking duo of the hosts was Seba and Woolery, who made his debut.
On the other hand, Mr Matias Almeida he did not have Sidibe, Mohammadi, Galanopoulos and Eliasson at his disposal, while there was also a last-minute problem with Levi Garcia, who felt discomfort and stayed out. 4-2-3-1 the system, with Athanasiadis starting goalkeeper, Rota right back, Hadjisafi left and Mukudi, Vida in the center of defense. Szymanski and Jonsson were the midfield duo, Amrabat on the right wing, Pineda on the left and Araujo behind Van Weert.
The match:
As expected, the AEK took possession from the start of the match, with Ionikos defending in their own half of the pitch, with 11 players behind the ball. In the 10th Rota had a drop in the home area after Valerianos had marked, but Sidiropoulos showed “you’re playing”, while Ionikos threatened for the first time in the 17th minute, scoring with Guleribut with his goal disallowed for offside by Sheba at the start of the phase.
In the 21st minute, AEK missed an opportunity to open the scoring after his cross Amrabad and his close head Shimansky which went just wide, while in the very next minute a long and very strong shot by Kanias ended up on the crossbar of Athanasiadis. In the 32nd minute, Union’s keeper and Vida got tangled up after Sakic’s cross, but the hosts failed to capitalize, while in the 36th minute, Hadjisafi found the ball with a cross Araujobut he shot high wide.
Finally, Mr Ionic he was the one who took the lead in the 38th minute, when after an ideal counterattack, o Fatiga she found him with a beautiful pass Sheba, who after avoiding Mukudi, executed Athanasiadis with a strong shot for 1-0. In the last minutes of the first half, AEK increased its pressure, in the 44th minute Hadjisafi he committed a foul and Houtesiotis saved in a corner, while in 45’+3′ Simanski shot incorrectly from a distance.
The visitors created a chance in the first seconds of the second half when Hadjisafi found space and shot from distance and Houtesiotis made an impressive save for a corner. In the 50th minute, Souza was injured and replaced by Adunes, while in the 55th minute, Mukudi cleared a very dangerous turn by Fatiga, while in the 56th minute, the association missed a great opportunity to equalize, with Van Weert not being able to score with a double effort from a very good position, after Araujo’s corner kick.
THE AEK continued to dominate the pitch, but found it dark against the Ionian defense, which had a pretty good day. In the 65th minute, Cigrinski pulled away at the last moment after a turn by Araujo, while in the 73rd Almeida crossed in their match Cumber and Latchtwo players who were to decide the winner of the match as well.
In the 78th minute, Ionikos almost doubled its goals, but Guleri and Rouboulakou they failed to defeat him Athanasiadiswith the Union equalizing at 82′after Fernandez’s corner kick and his header Vida, who found the net for the first time with the yellow and black! The visitors continued to press hard, searching for the winning goal, which they finally found in 92′when Mandalos took a great slash at Cumber and the Swiss with a fantastic finish defeated Houtesiotis, redeeming his team and giving them the victory with 2-1!
MVP: Zuber entered the field as a substitute for Matias Almeida in the 74th minute and managed to become the ultimate hero for his team, scoring in the second minute of stoppage time the goal that brought about the big upset and the most important victory for AEK!
The whistle: Quite a difficult game for Sidiropoulos, who had to manage a match with many strong duels. AEK asked for a penalty in the 10th minute for marking Rota, with Karantonis not calling him to the VAR, while “you are playing” was also shown in the 45th minute, when the visitors asked for a penalty for Souza’s hand.
Team compositions:
Ionian (Dimitris Spanos, 5-3-2): Houtesiotis – Valerianos, Tsigrinski, Souza (50′ Antounes), Romao, Mygas – Sakics, Kanias, Fatiga (76′ Rouboulakou) – Seba, Gouleri (88′ Mantzis)
On the counter: Christodoulis, Tsirigotis, Lovera, Eleftheriadis, Cabral, Tsipsach.
AEK (Matias Almeida, 4-2-3-1): Athanasiadis – Hadjisafi, Mukudi, Vida, Rota – Szymanski (63′ Fernandes), Jonsson – Amrabad (74′ Tzumber), Pineda (74′ Mandalos), Araujo – Van Weert (63′ Gacinovic)
On the counter: Stankovic, Mitoglou, Tzavellas, Radonia, Franson.
Referee: Sidiropoulos
Assistants: Kula Hassan, Mousiadis
Fourth: Maluta
VAR: Karantonis, Papadakis
The Live of sport-fm.gr
I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
