Win… title for Panathinaikoswho although found himself behind in the score by Marshowever, made the turnaround and left “Kleanthis Vikelidis” with the “double” and the victory with 2-1as part of the 22nd matchday of the Stoiximan Super League.
Thessalonians were lucky to take the lead just at 10′with a goal by -their best player- Odubajobut failed to score in either of their next two phases with Kamara.
On the contrary, the “clover” showed the mental reserves that the championship requires, he did not give up and after first missing a great opportunity with Kourbelis, he equalized with – undoubtedly the best as long as he competed – Mancini to… make a savefor the 1-1 at 33rd minute.
For one more Argentinian to come, from the bench in fact, o Palasios and to note at 86′ his fifth goal this year in the championship, giving the precious “three points” to his team!
Ares remained at 6th place of the standings, with 31 points and goes to Crete to play with OFI the next matchday.
While Panathinaikos was kept in peakopening his gap with the second AEK at +4, but with two more gameswhile he will host Bullet.
In the minds of the coaches:
Tolis Terzis “take” him down Mars in formation 4-2-3-1. Cuesta sat in goal, with Odubajo, Fabiano, Nkulu and Mazikou in the back four. Etembo and Darinda were the two “cutters”, with Palma, Iturbe and Mateo Garcia fighting behind Camara who was at the top of the attack.
Ivan Jovanovic lined him up Panathinaikos with system 4-3-3 and two changes compared to the last match. Brignoli under the goalposts and Vagiannidis, Senkefeld, Sarlia and Juancar in the straight line in defense. Kourbelis, Ruben and Tserin were moving in the axis, with Mancini and Bernard on the flanks of the promoted Ioannidis.
The match:
After one balanced startwith shared possession of the ball and a relatively good pace, where he found both teams attacking… unilaterally and specifically from the right, Aris opened the scoring early, in his first phase.
As Iturbe cut the ball in from the right for him Odubajowho entered the area, maneuvered and shot, with the ball going against Sarlias, finding the crossbar and ending up in the net, for 1-0, at 10′!
Panathinaikos tried to respond immediately, with Mancini’s individual energy from the right that reached the opponent’s area, but Cuesta impressively blocked the Argentine winger’s shot from a lateral position, three minutes later…
The home side then hit back, giving meters and… ball to their opponent and expecting them to find some good counter-attack cooperation. As it happened, in the 17th minute, when from a cross by the very active Odubatzo, o Arch brought the ball down nicely but his shot went just wide of the right post.
With the “clover” balancing the situation from that point on, but not being able to create dangerous situations in the opposing frames. Instead, he saw Aris miss another chance just before the half-hour mark. From the ball to the “back” of the defense, with Odubatzo turning to Kamaras, whose shot, however, went very high over the goal…
From that point on, Panathinaikos “woke up” and did within five minutes what it hadn’t done in the previous 30′. Threatening to equalize both in the 31st minute, when in his corner Bernard from the left, the unmarked Kourbelis took the header from close range but missed the target. As well as in the 33rd minute, with his shot Ioannidis from a difficult angle through the area to counter and end up in the hands of Cuesta.
Finally, the guests reached 1-1 in the 36th minute, as from a “deep” accurate ball in Ruben’s area, Ioannidis avoided Fabiano and at the right moment turned to Mancini, who scored his maiden goal in an empty net with the his team!
The second half started as the first half ended: with Panathinaikos having a better image, being more pressing and registering their first chance only in the 51st minute. With Mancini crossing from the right in the “heart” of the opposing area and him Ioannidis to head but send the ball out…
The “yellows” found a chance out of nowhere and… from a controlled offside position shortly after the hour mark, as Palma entered the area from the left and fired a powerful shot for Brignoli to clear for a corner.
Wanting to get the “three points”, Jovanovic threw Palacios into the match, instead of Cerin, changing his team’s system to 4-2-3-1, with the Argentine going right, Mancini going left and Bernard behind Ioannidis. While Terzis “answered” a little later, replacing Iturbe with Rupp, but without changing the formation.
As time passed, so it seemed the game would be decided by one phase. The “greens” had two to score and take the win, but they didn’t turn any of them into goals…
As in the 75th minute, Kourbelis stole from Etembo, he passed to Palasios, but the Argentinian winger’s shot from the height of the area was countered and passed for a corner. While in the 82nd minute from a ball from Kourbelis in the “back” of the opposing defense, Palasios went forward but he shot hastily and incorrectly!
Finally, however, the vindication for Panathinaikos came four minutes before the end, when Verbic took a corner from the right, Sarlia took the header and Palasios he scored from the spot, making it 1-2!
MVP: Daniel Mancini… was everywhere today! He had the first good moment of Panathinaikos, he was the one who equalized for his team, while we even saw him… score, in some cases when needed. And all this, in a “special” match for him, given that he faced his former team. A decent appearance, which confirmed many of his “gifts”…
The… whistle: The Dane Kristoffersen did not affect the development of the match, while he even managed to pull off a quite challenging game like today’s with the use of a single yellow card! He avoided too many whistles, helping to play more “clean” football than we might have expected.
The compositions of the two teams:
Aris (Tolis Terzis): Cuesta, Odubajo, Fabiano, Nkulu, Mazikou, Etembo (83′ Gray), Darinda, Palma (70′ Christodoulopoulos), Iturbe (65′ Rupp), Mateo Garcia (83′ Dabo), Kamara.
They stayed on the bench: Siabanis, Embakata, Piersman, Camatso, Sgouros.
Panathinaikos (Ivan Jovanovic): Brignoli, Vagiannidis, Senkefeld, Sarlia, Huancar (79′ lt. Pouhats), Ruben, Kourbelis, Cerin (63′ Palasios), Mancini (74′ Kleinheisler), Ioannidis (73′ Sporar), Bernard (80′ Verbics ).
They stayed on the bench: Lodingin, Tsokai, Kotsiras, Poungouras.
Referee: Mands-Christopher Christoffersen (Denmark).
Assistants: Dennis Wollenberg, Ole Kronlike (Denmark).
Fourth referee: Christos Vergetis (Arcadias).
VAR: Sadi Putros (Denmark).
AVAR: Theofilos Mousiadis (Epirou).
See here the description of the match from the Match Centre
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