Panathinaikos and PAOK they came to a scoreless draw 1-1 at “Apostolos Nikolaidis”, in the rematch of Toumba’s 2-0 for the quarter-finals of this year’s Cup.
“Clover” was superior in the first half, where he came in… gassed, with a fighter’s mentality that he did not have in the previous two matches and took the lead thanks to his very nice goal Cherin in the 18′.
However, the Slovenian midfielder turned out to be… fatal, after the Thessalonikians – who absorbed the pressure gradually in the replay – managed to find the “golden” equalizing goal with a well-placed penalty Oliveira by hand of Cherin, at 78′.
This is how they formally “sealed” their qualification to the semi-finals of the organization where he will meet her Ghoulin doubles matches on the way to the final.
In the… minds of the coaches:
Ivan Jovanovic “dropped” Panathinaikos into formation 4-3-3 and with several changes. Lodingin sat in goal, having Vaiannidis, Sarlias, Kourbelis and Pouhats four at the back. Ruben, Csokai and Cerin formed the three central midfielders, with Palacios-Bernard playing on the “wings” and Sporar at the top of the attack.
Razvan Lucescu on the other hand, he lined up PAOK with a system 4-2-3-1, Kotarski under the goalposts and Sastre, Ingason, Koulierakis and Rafa Soares in the defense line. Dandas and Augusto were moving on the axis, with Zivkovic, Constantelia and Narey a triple behind the sole promoted Oliveira.
The match:
Panathinaikos entered the game like a kamikaze, having the support of the stands, in order to find a goal as early as possible. He quickly released the ball and just at 5′ saw him Chokai to take the counters, to shoot from the height of the area, only to be blocked by Kotarski.
Seeing this, PAOK started to press high, making it quite difficult for the development of their opponent, as a result of which they also won some corners. In one of them, at 9th minuteThe Oliveira got a header at the first post but the ball went wide.
As time was passing, the tension and passion were growingwith the visitors – who tried to “hit” with Narey’s speed – having another good moment in 17′but his diagonal shot Zivkovic from the right in the area he went out and while earlier Sarlia countered Constantelia’s attempt.
Finally, the “clover” achieved its goal, in the very next minute. As his players they turned the ball over nicelyBernard found him Cherin who made a nice control while immobilizing Dandas, laid the ball in front of him and me great shot from 20 meters sent it into Kotarski’s right corner and into the net, for the 1-0!
Next, Panathinaikos he pressed on again, trying to take advantage of the momentum to reach a second goal. He stepped several times in the opposing area, but without finding any “clean” phase. With PAOK defending effectively whenever needed, either by breaking the pressure well, or simply clearing balls. While at the same time he threatened with a header from Oliveira, in the 38th minute, which of course was weak and ended up in Lodingin’s arms.
Entering the final ten minutes of the first half, There were too many fouls called by referee Viljanen, mostly in favor of the “two-headed man of the North” and Oliveira, as a result of which the tempo was cut and no football was played… at all.
With Bernard, however, leaving quickly and head-on on the counter-attack in the second minute of extra time, passing sideways and left to Sporar within area, who shot hopelessly wide, wasting a great chance to make it 2-0…
The second half began with Jovanovic bringing on Mancini – making his debut – in place of Csokai, as a left winger, while playing Bernard behind Sporar, in 4-2-3-1 now. While Lucescu “responded” by putting Schwab in Augusto’s place, but without changing his formation.
Inside the stadium, the strong duels continued, with PAOK scoring with him Naray from Constantelia’s cross from the left, in 52′, but be it – and with… the naked eye- offside at the start of the phase and with the use of VAR the goal is disallowed.
The “greens” had another very good moment to achieve the… coveted second goal two minutes later. When from Vagiannidis’s cross and his header Mancinithe ball passed few outs!
The pattern remained the same afterwards, with pressure from Panathinaikos, which saw Cerin make another shot from outside the area, but Kotarski parried this time, in the 64th minute. But the “black and white” must also find a way to absorb it, having protested in between and for a foul-second yellow card by Kourbelis…
The entry of Ioannidis-Sanches made the hosts even more aggressive but at the same time allowed PAOK to balance the situation in the axis and control the pace.
A shot by Narey in the 73′ ended up in the arms of Lodingin, while in the next phase Ingason took the header but protested -rightly- for a hand from Cherin.
After using VAR, the referee awarded the penalty, o Oliveira he was right in his execution and the Thessalonians equalized at 1-1 in the 78th minutetaking a clear qualifying lead!
Qualification which came in the end, since Panathinaikos did not find the courage to return to the match. Kleinheisler, also making his debut, shot wide in the 81st minute from a fine effort from Mancini, while the visitors ended the game with ten men after Thomas was sent off with a straight red card in the first minute of stoppage time.
MVP: Schwab enters the half and improves with his performance the axis of his team as well as its overall image. In fact, he is the player who also wins the penalty after his header stops in Cerin’s hand.
The whistle: It took VAR to spot Cerin’s handball, as did Tomas’ sending off for punching Sarlia the Finn, Villjanen. Overall, he drew a lot of cards, eleven yellows and one red, but he also showed tolerance for several markings that could be penalized over others! Both teams have complaints from the referee…
The compositions of the two teams:
Panathinaikos (Ivan Jovanovic): Lodingin, Vagiannidis, Sarlia, Kourbelis (66′ Sanchez), Pouchats (80′ Juancar), Ruben, Tsokai (46′ Mancini), Cerin, Palasios (80′ Kleinheisler), Sporar, Bernard (66′ Ioannidis).
Left on the bench: Brignoli, Sideras, Kyriopoulos, Verbits.
PAOK (Razvan Lucescu): Kotarski, Sastre, Ingason, Koulierakis, R. Soares (85′ Vieirania), Dadas, Augusto (46′ Schwab), A. Zivkovic, Constantelias (88′ Bisesvar), Narey (79′ Tyson), Oliveira (87′ Thomas) .
Left on the bench: Z. Zivkovic, Nashberg, Ricardo, F. Soares.
Referee: Villjanen (Finland).
Assistants: Lampu (Finland), Vireavoori (Finland).
Fourth referee: Fotias (Pellas).
VAR: Bar (Israel).
AVAR: Meidanas (Achaia).
See here the description of the match from the Match Centre
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