The rematch is scheduled for next Wednesday (31/01), at 19:00 in Peristeri, while the winner of the pair will probably face PAOK, who already have a qualification advantage, due to their 4-0 advantage in the first match against Panseraic.
In the minds of the coaches:
THE Panathinaikos lined up with seven changes, in formation 4-3-3. Dragovski in goal and Kochira, Akaidin, Ugo and Mladenovic four at the back. Arau was the ‘cutter’, Vilena and Bakasetas the inside midfielders, with Mancini-Aitor fighting on the wings and Djuricic at the top of the attack.
THE Fearless on the other hand it “went down” with a system 4-2-3-1 and Tsintotas under the goalposts. Athanasiou, Acevedo, Imerekov and Tsakmaki four in defense. Ender and Erlingmark were the two midfielders in the axis, with Robaye-Vraka on the wings and Jubitana behind the promoted Andzielski.
The match:
Panathinaikos had the initiative of the movements from the first whistle of Diamantopoulos, pressing quite high, circulating the ball and looking several times for the vertical pass that created an imbalance in the opponent.
At the same time, Atromitos waited mostly in the half court, was unable to keep the ball in his possession and simply tried to close the spaces properly.
The “greens”… warned in the 10th minute, with his volley Bakaseta out of the area, to jerk the left beam of Tsintota’s hearth…
Finally, in the very next phase they took the lead, when Bakasetas made a vertical pass to Djuricic, who immediately turned the ball into the area to the oncoming Aitor who made it 1-0 with a beautiful spot!
With psychology in their favor, the Panathinaikos players are not alone they continued to be in total control but they made another phase to score, in the 19th minute. Again with Hugo’s vertical pass for Aitor, who saw his shot blocked by Chidota and Imrekov then pushed away…
However, they saw the Peristerians reach the equalizer, also through VAR, at their first opportunity, in the 25th minute. As Dragovski impressively saved Erlingmark’s shot from Akaidin’s mistake, but Andrzejski who was… lurking, made it 1-1, with the goal initially disallowed!
At the same time, from that point they succeeded and raised their performance, starring for almost a quarter of an hour. Having a good moment with Ender in the 29th minute and a great chance three minutes later, from a mistake by Hugo, but Dragovski struggled to push away Jubitana’s shot.
Mancini wasted a very big opportunity to give his team the lead again, in the 34th minute, sending the ball high and out being unmarked at the second post and Panathinaikos paid for it…
As after the execution of a corner by the opponent, which had raised many players in the frames of Tsintotas, Atromitos came out quickly on the counter-attack, Mladenovic did not go to Robaille, who took out the vertical line for Jubitana, who scored 1-2 in the 42nd minute, with an excellent execution!
The second half started with Panathinaikos trying to equalize, looking for some partnerships and playing fast football, just like in the first part of the match.
However, with the exception of some consecutive corners, which he was unable to capitalize on, however, he did not find a way to threaten Chitota. A “lukewarm” shot by Vilena in the 54th minute and a header by Akaidin in the 58th minute was the closest thing to a chance…
Terim made a double substitution on the hour mark and his side missed the first crucial phase to score in the replay. With Aitor placing very badly, after the nice change of play by Bakaseta, in the 61′, sending the ball out unmolested.
Panathinaikos increased their pressure from that point onwards, trying to equalize, but managed to miss practically every chance they created…
Either with the headers of Djuricic and Bernard, in the 69th and 72nd minutes, or with the latter’s attempt to hang Tsintotas in the 75th minute, while Aitor didn’t make a good finish either, four minutes later.
Entering the final stretch of the match, with the guests having missed a good chance for 1-3 in the 67th minute from the “one-two” of Valencia and Andrzejski, but keeping the lead firmly in their favor, the “clover” had one last chance to… save the lot.
As he won a penalty after Ioannidis was elbowed by Acevedo, indicated by the use of technology, in the 87th minute. However, the progression of the execution undertaken by the international striker was… in line with the previous match, as Tsintotas made a save, the ball hit the crossbar, and in the rebound, Ioannidis’ shot was stopped at the left post of Atromitos!
With 1-2 remaining until the end and giving the lead for qualification to the guests, now…
MVP: THE Denzel Jubitana deserves it as he scored the winning goal for the western suburbs side, while also having two more very good moments, to be anointed top scorer again. Playing a little further back and centrally, than usual, he found space to take advantage of his speed in some cases.
the “whistle”: The referee Diamantopoulos was very bad at disciplinary control, leaving Jubitana unpunished on two occasions for a yellow card, until he showed it to him with the… third. In Andielski’s equaliser, the phase is borderline and he has been flagged for offside by his assistant. While the penalty in favor of Ivoannidis came from Koumbarakis’ notification… In general, he did not have the best presence.
The compositions of the two teams:
Panathinaikos (Fatih Terim) : Dragovski, Kotsiras (60′ Vaiannidis), Akaidin, Ugo, Mladenovic, Mancini (87′ Zeka), Arao (71′ Ruben), Vilena (60′ Bernard), Aitor, Djuricic, Bakasetas (71′ Ioannidis).
They stayed on the bench: Lodingin, Gedvai, Fikai, Kyriopoulos.
Fearless (Sasha Ilyich) : Tsintotas, Tsakmakis, Acevedo, Imerekov (65′ De Bock), Athanasiou, Ender, Erlingmark, Robay (75′ Pomonis), Jubitana (65′ Kuen), Vrakas (65′ Valencia), Andielski.
They stayed on the bench: Municipality, Vergos, Trimmatis, Karamanis, Dirks.
Referee: Aristotle Diamantopoulos (Arkadias).
Assistants: Tryfonas Petropoulos (Arcadias), Konstantinos Triantaphyllou (Arcadias).
4th referee: Konstantinos Perrakis (Athens).
VAR: Stefanos Koumbarakis (Cyclades).
AVAR: Dimitris Samoilis (Athens).
See here the description of the match from the Match Centre
Source: Sport Fm
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