AEK with anxiety but also … wings in Lamia!

“Basimo” with the … right in 2022 and for AEK, which on Wednesday (5/1) left in its favor 2-0 from its headquarters Lamia, in the context of the 16th game of Super League 1.

The “Union” is good from time to time, but for another game that preceded, it did not manage to “clean up” it immediately. However, the team of Fthiotida could not take advantage of the rights given to it by the suspensive behavior of the “yellow-blacks”, who reached the “double” thanks to the goals of its two side midfielders. THE Garcia opened the scoring at 29′, with Amrabat clearing the match at 83′.

A result that goes 2nd AEK in the -8 from the champion Olympiakos (match less) and at +5 from the 3rd PAOK (less matches), which it faces next Sunday. On the other hand, Lamia remained the only team in the League without a home victory, which in 12th place (11b.), At +2 from the penultimate Atromitos (match less) and at +4 from the tail Apollon Smyrni (four matches less).

Particularly charged atmosphere before the kick-off, with the guests taking the victory in memory of Stelios Serafeidis and Costa Generaki.

In the… minds of coaches:



THE Michalis Grigoriou lined up the hosts with a system 4-2-3-1 and Saranov at the hearth. In the defense, from right to left, Skondras, Tzanetopoulos, Golemic and Saramantas started, with Tzandari and Beharano composing the duo in the midfield. Eleftheriadis, Nounies and Romanic were the midfield trio behind the only forward, Arabouli.

Same system by Argyri Gianniki as far as AEK is concerned. Tsintontas was under the beams, with Svarna covering the right end of the defense and Mohammadi the left. The duo in the stoppers -for the first time this year- were composed by Mitoglou and Tzavellas, while the respective in the midfield were Le Talek and Simasnki. To the right of the midfield was Amrabat, opposite Garcia, while Mandalos was moving in a free role behind Ansarifard.

Apart from AEK, the unprepared Stankovic, the punished Vranjes, but also Michelin, Rota, Mita, Tsuber, Tankovic and Galanopoulos were left, at the moment when Araoucho started from the bench, after during the week he faced discomfort in the middle. It is reminded that Lamia also had cases of coronavirus, which on Tuesday (4/1) announced four cases, three in players.

(Before the kick-off, a minute of silence was observed in the memory of Kostas Generakis and Stelios Serafeidis)

The match:



The match started with a phase for Lamia, as just at 2′ The Mitoglou carried out unstable persecution, with him Nouns to catch the shot outside the area and him Tsintota to repel. Another miscalculation by an AEK player, this time by her goalkeeper at 7′, gave… rights to the hosts, with Javelin however managing to remove.

In general, the “yellow-blacks” found it difficult to develop rationally in the first twenty minutes. Their most active player in this period, Nordin Amrabat, was the one who created their best moment when in 12′ made the parallel turn from the right, with him Garcia to be thrown against the corner of the small area, sending the ball with a one-piece shot to the outside of the net.

However, after 20′ AEK started to increase its performance, initially threatening him Ansarifard in the 27′. To get to 29′, when the ball fell from a great height, with him Garcia shoot from the borders of the large area before landing on the ground, sending it to the lower left corner and nets for the 0-1.

The team of Argyris Giannikis tried to take advantage of its momentum in the next minutes, pushing for a second goal. THE Saranov had an answer to its strong diagonal finish Simansky in the 34′, with his long shot Amrabat in the 35′ to pass next to the right beam.

However, Lamia increased its pressure in the last minutes of the first half, threatening with its cross Saramanta in the 44′ and with his place Tzandari from the height of the small area at 45′. None of these phases led to a goal, with AEK going to the locker room previous 1-0.

AEK retreated enough in the second half. He had two good moments, at 59′ with his shot Simansky, after a nice counterattack and in 63′ with its diagonal finish Amrabat. However, it was then endangered in several cases by Lamia, which took advantage of the wrong texts in its suspensive behavior. Top phases for those hosts with him Αραμπουλι in the 67′ and his Tyrone in the 76′.

And since Lamia failed to take advantage of its opportunities, AEK was able to “lock” its victory in 83′: THE Amrabat went on the offensive breaking into Gevtic. Saranov repulsed the Swiss ace in the first year, but had no answer in the first place, when he got the “rebound”, making the final 0-2.

In fact, ο Hadjisafi, a few minutes after entering the field, lost a huge opportunity for 0-3 at 89′, however, missed from an advantageous position, in the last essentially phase of the match.

MVP: Very good appearance from him Amrabat, who was consistently the most active player of the guests, something he just sealed with his goal. Simanski up close.

The whistle: The refereeing of Mr. Diamantopoulos without any problems, who whenever required had the help of the VAR. Maybe they needed a little better management in disciplinary control. The flag was not raised badly in the great opportunity of Arabouli in 67 ‘.

The compositions of the two groups:

Lamia (Michalis Grigoriou): Saranov – Skondras, Tzanetopoulos, Golemic, Saramantas – Tzandaris (64 ‘Tyron), Beharano – Eleftheriadis, Nounies (82’ Tsoukalos), Romanic – Arabouli (82 ‘Karamanos).

On the bench for the hosts were left: Garavelis, Manousakis, Martineth, Mazoulouxis, Troumpoulos, Vlachomitros.

AEK (Argyris Giannikis): Tsintotas – Svarnas, Mitoglou, Tzavellas, Mohammadi – Le Talek (71 ‘Simoes), Simanski (76’ Sakhof) – Amrabat, Mandalos (86 ‘Hadjisafi), Garcia – Ansarifard (71’ Gevtic).

On the bench for the guests were left: Hadjiemmanuel, Latsi, Araoucho, Kosidis, Giousis.

Referee: Aristotle Diamantopoulos

Assistants: George Christakoglou, Elias Konstantinou

Fourth: Konstantinos Tsetsilas

VAR Referee: Spyridon Zampalas

Watch the live of the match here.