AEK for… a psychiatrist, achieved the impossible against Dinamo Zagreb and got a historic qualification!

An evening taken from the dreams of every AEK fan! “Union” returned from hell to heaven and with two goals in stoppage time, overturned the match against Dinamo Zagreb and qualified for the playoffs of the Champions League (2-2)!

“Union” started the game well, but conceded a goal at a very crucial point, at the end of the first half by Soutalos and one in the 65th minute by Ljubisic, showing that there is no return.

However, the god of football had not said his last word and reserved a finale taken from a fairy tale. Araujo made it 1-2 in the 92′, giving his team the “cushion” of extra time and in the 90’+10′, the former captain of the Croatians, Domagoj Vida followed the phase from Levia’s missed penalty and headed the winner Livakovic, sending everyone in the OPAP Arena into… seventh heaven.

The leader of the “yellow and black” was shocking, as was Matias Almeida after the end, who dedicated the goal to the deceased Michalis. Great qualification for AEK, which gives them a boost, after a match that did not play to their standards, ahead of the next game against Antwerp on Tuesday in Belgium (22/8).

Very good performance from Gacinovic and Mandalo from the moment they entered the game, giving energy and quality efforts to their team, who got a qualification that will be remembered for… forever!

In the minds of the coaches:

Matias Almeida made two changes from the first leg, with Rota and Ambrabat taking the places of Sidibe and Eliasson in Almeida’s 4-4-2. From then on, Stankovic was under the posts, Vida, Mukudi, Hadjisafi in defence, Szymanski, Jonsson, Pineda in the axis and Zuber behind the promoted Levia.

On the other hand, Igor Bischan chose exactly the same line-up in a 4-2-3-1 system, with Livakovic in goal, Moharami, Ristovski, Sutalo, Mihailichenko in defense, Misic, Bulat in the center and Spikic, Ljubicic , Ivanusech behind promoted Petkovic.

The match

AEK entered the game with excessive enthusiasm and missed a great opportunity to open the scoring, only in the 42nd minute. Hadjisafi took the ball at the height of the midfield, carried it several meters and at the right moment found Pineda, who from a lateral position in the area, failed to beat Livakovic.

In the 13th minute, the first good moment came for the Croatians. Ljubisic found Bulat a few meters outside the AEK area, he also found space and took the shot, which went over Stankovic’s goal. In the 16th minute, “Union” had another chance. Hadjisafi put in a nice diagonal cross from the left, Levia got onto the ball and scored on the move, his shot going just wide of the post.

Immediately after, the “yellow and black” missed a great opportunity to take the lead. Rota curled in a cross from the right after Pineda initially stole the ball under pressure from Livakovic, but Zuber was unable to beat the Croatian keeper from an advantageous position, who cleared.

In the 23′, Dinamo threatened, to no avail. After a mistake by Vida a few meters outside the area, Petkovic teamed up with Ivanusech to take the shot, with Stankovic making a solid block. In fact, the Croatians had one more chance in the 28th minute. After a mistake by Stankovic, Mykhailichenko stole the ball and passed it to Ivanusech, who bent and shot from outside the area, his shot going high.

At that point the pace dropped slightly with Dynamo very well set up on the pitch. In the 44th minute, the Croatians had one more chance. Soutalo found Bulat with a beautiful vertical pass, which combined with Jonso’s passivity, found Bulat outside the area, whose shot went just wide of Stankovic’s crossbar.

At 45’+1′, Igor Bischan’s team managed to take the lead. After a deep charge in the area, Petkovic took a header from Hadjisafi and laid it on to Mykhailichenko, who headed in, with Stankovic making an impressive save. Afterwards, however, Soutalo scored undisturbed, after inaction by the defense, into an empty net for Dinamo’s 1-0. This was the score with which the two teams went to the break.

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AEK entered the second half decisively and had a double missed opportunity in the 56th minute. Simanski found Hadjisafi with a great ball, he laid Pineda who shot with his left on Soutalos. Jonsson took the rebound and shot from the edge of the area, with Livakovic making a very good intervention and clearing away. A minute later, Rota played a cross for Zuber and he broke to Amrabad who came in like a… trailer from the right, with Livakovic coming out in time to block his attempted low shot.

As if that wasn’t enough, Dinamo found a second goal a few minutes later. Ljubisic found Petkovic outside the area and, making a beautiful diagonal move, was superbly fed by his teammate and past Stankovic for 2-0.

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In the 69th minute, Gacinovic took a dangerous foul, with Livakovic clearing away. In the very next minute, Stankovic said no to Spikic’s shot from a good position.

In the 78th minute, Mukudi scored into an empty net, but Garcia who participated in the phase and blocks Livakovic, is exposed. In the 90th minute, Leviai shot from a wide position, Araujo took the shot and the ball found first a defender and then Mandalo to go into the net, but the Greek midfielder was in an offside position.

And where everything showed that AEK would be in the playoffs of the Champions League, what the most optimistic AEK fan had dreamed of happened!

Initially, at 90’+2′, the “Union” managed to break the… Gordian bond. After Eliasson’s corner kick, the ball was cleared by the Dinamo defenders and laid to Araujo, who with a shot on the move beat Livakovic for 1-2!

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AEK pushed to find a second goal, before the game went to overtime and succeeded! At 90’+8′ and after a corner kick and an effort by Araujo, Ljubisic found the ball with his hand, with the referee showing the white arrow after a VAR review.

Livai took over the execution, Livakovic saved, but Vida, who followed the phase, defeated his compatriot with a header, sending the AEK fans to… heaven, with 2-2 being the final result.

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MVP: Sergio Araujo and Domagoi Vida. Both were decisive with the goals, in order for AEK to make the huge upset and qualify for the Champions League playoffs. Gacinovic was also very positive, where he gave a lot of energy upon entering the game.

The whistle: THE Espen Escas he had a relatively good presence, although he did not avoid mistakes. In the 81st minute, he confuses Soutalos with Mikailichenko, giving the latter a red card, while he doesn’t see Ljubisic’s hand, which was corrected by VAR.

AEK (Matias Almeida): Stankovic, Hadjisafi, Mukudi, Vida, Rota, Simanski (67′ Gacinovic), Jonson (76′ Mandalos), Pineda (76′ Galanopoulos), Amrabat (67′ Eliasson), Tzumber (67′ Araujo). , Levi Garcia.

Dinamo Zagreb (Igor Bišan): Livakovic, Ljubicic, Sutalo, Ristovski, Moharami, Misic, Bulat, Mihailichenko, Ivanusec, Spikic (86′ Marin), Petkovic