Furioza AEK, four to Asteras and now… PAOK!

From five to three and now… four for the untouchable AEK!

“Union” prevailed with 4-2 Astera Tripoli in -for the last time behind closed doors- OPAP Arenain a game that simplify the data with the two goals in an equal number of minutes (25′-27′), while then she found two more goals and comfortably reached the “three points” that sends her with the best possible psychology to the derby with PAOK in Toumba (11/ 02, 20:00).

Unlucky for the side of the Arkadians Erwin Djukanovic who scored two own goals, with the league ultimately charging one of them to Ezekiel Ponce, who eventually scored two goals in the match. On the other hand, Mr Levi Garcia he returned from injury and picked up where he left off with Panathinaikos, finding the back of the net once again, while going on an incredible run in the league with seven straight matches with goals. The second goal of the visitors was scored by Miritello, who reached double-digit numbers of goals (10), being in second place on the relevant list.

On a terrible day and Niklas Eliassonwho had the assist on Ponce’s goal and the turn in the third goal of the “Union”, while he was involved in almost all the offensive actions of his team, carrying out, probably, his best appearance this season.

Thus, AEK climbed to the top of the standings with 48 points and is at +1 from PAOK (47), who compete at 20:30 with Atromitos, leaving four and seven points behind Panathinaikos (44) and Olympiakos (41) respectively, before the match between them “battle” on the Boulevard at 21:00. Conversely, Asteras dropped to 7th place with 29 points, seeing Lamia enter in the top six of the playoffs and overtake him with 30 points, after its victory over PAS Ioannina.

In the… minds of the coaches:

With three changes to her eleven AEK, compared to the one he had in the last game against OFI. THE Matias Almeida lined up the “Union” with the classic 4-4-1-1 and Stankovic in goal, while keeping Pelios (left) and Radonia (right) on the sides of the defense. Callens and Mitoglou are in the stopper positions, with the Greek stopper replacing Vida, who was out due to a knock in training. In the midfield Pineda with Mandalo who took the place of the suspended Jonson, while on the right “wing” was Eliasson instead of the also suspended Gacinovic and on the left Amrabat. Zuber played the role of peripheral attacker and Ponce was in front of him as center forward.

On the opposite bank, Milan Rastavac, had two changes in Asteras’ lineup, compared to the previous match against Atromitos. With the well-known 4-2-3-1 formation, Grammatikakis was under the posts and four in defense from right to left of Lyratzis, Kastanios, Djukanovics and Huchumis, with the latter replacing Alvares. Jablonski and Goss, who took the place of Munafo, were the duo in midfield, while Bartolo was in the role of staff midfielder. Kaltsas moved on the right side of the attack, Crespi on the left and Miritello at the top of the attack.

The match:

With the familiar intensity that brings out, AEK started the game and that’s how the phase came in the 4th minute, with Eliasson to push up, Houhoumis turned to Grammatikakis, who almost made a huge mistake, but managed to clear before the ball crossed the goal line. A minute later (5′) “Union” had its first good moment, when o Eliasson shot with power from outside the area, however, Grammatikakis with a nice save sent it out for a corner.

The visitors were in a mood to keep the ball at their feet and in this way they had their first moment in Stankovic’s goal in the 11th minute: after the ball was in circulation, the Lyratzis he found space and bent inward, making the deflected shot, which went over the goal of the “yellow and black”. With Asteras defending massively behind, Matias Almeida’s team widened their game and tried to threaten with the shots of Radonia (13′) and Zuber (15′), while in 20′ Radonia, who had stayed up, recovered the ball and passed to Eliasson, with the Swede shooting from inside the area, but Grammatikakis blocked.

AEK remained high in the area of ​​Asteras and succeeded in the 25th minute to open the scoring! Mandalos executed the corner, with Ponce barely finding the ball and Djukanovic in his attempt to chase with his head he sent the ball into the net for 1-0. The league, however, charged this goal to the Argentinian striker of the Union.

The hosts, who were furious after scoring the first goal, they found… dazed the Star and achieved second place, simplifying the data for the case of the three points of victory! From the right, Eliasson took the cross and o Poncewho was being covered by Hoochumi, with a header in the heart of the area scored 2-0, for his seventh goal in the last three matches.

The “Union” having found what they needed managed the match, while not being threatened, with the 29′ phase when Miritello left on the counterattack, but Callens caught up with him and successfully foiled his attempt before the execution. Nevertheless, in the 43rd minute, the “yellow and black” quickly took the lead with him Eliasan and they made it 3-0, with the Swedish winger entering the area from the left, making the turn, Djukanovic put his foot down to clear, but sent the ball into his team’s net for the second time.

In the 45th minute, AEK lost huge opportunity and for a fourth goal, which was started by Zuber who surprisingly saw Amrabad, the latter crossed into the area, but Ponce’s finish was poor and went wide. A few seconds later and during a free kick by Asteras, Mitoglou found the ball with his hand and after a VAR examination, Katsikogiannis he pointed to the white arrow. THE Bartolo took over the execution, scoring 3-1, which was also the last phase of the first half.

Without anything worthwhile the first minutes of the second half, with the shots of Pelios (47′) for the team and Choumomi (51′) for the team not to threaten the two goals. In the 58th minute Amrabad a little further from the center tried to hang him without success, while Djukanovic’s header in the 62nd minute did not threaten Stankovic.

The several changes on both sides seemed to affect the pace of the match, in the 67th minute, Zouglis went forward alone and turned to Miritelos in the area, but Mitoglou impressively tackled it to a corner. In the 71st minute, Eliasson crossed from the left with Levia Garcia, who had passed in the match, missing a huge opportunity with a projection into an empty net. Three minutes later (74′) the forward from Trinidad and Tobago missed another great chance when he went into a four-four position, but his finish went wide.

One, two, the third was also the… fatal one in the 78th minute for Garcia! An excellent vertical shot by Mandalos, the first scorer of AEK went past Grammatikakis and scored in an empty net for 4-1, returning with a goal from his injury. In the 78th minute, Robert Ljubisic replaced Mandalo, making his debut in the AEK shirt, while in the 83rd minute, Leviai threatened from a sideline position, but Grammatikakis had an answer.

The final 4-2 was created in the 90′ ​​by Miritelos with a projection after Sito’s cross, with AEK getting the “three points” that takes them -temporarily- to the top, waiting for the result of Atromitos-PAOK, before the duel between them in Toumba next Sunday (11/02).

MVP: Niklas Eliasson performed probably his best appearance this season. He had the assist on Ponce’s goal, he turned in Djukanovic’s second own goal, while he threatened Grammatikaki’s goal several times either with shots or crosses for his teammates. At the same time he won 5/7 duels and 2/2 aerials in an absolutely “full” match.

The whistle: Alexandros Katsikogiannis correctly calculated Astera’s penalty after VAR review, while managed successfully and the disciplinary piece with the yellow cards he handed out to Astera players. In total, he gets a good grade for his arbitration.

The compositions of the two teams:

AEK (Matias Almeida): Stankovic, Pelios, Callens, Mitoglou, Radonia, Pineda (78′ Galanopoulos), Mandalos (78′ Ljubisic), Eliasson, Amrabat (66′ Fernandes), Zuber (72′ Araujo), Ponce (66′ Levi Garcia).

Asteras Tripoli (Milan Rastavac): Grammatikakis, Houhoumis, Kastanio, Zukanovic, Lyratzis (50′ Alvares), Goss (65′ Valiente), Yablonski (79′ Alagbe), Bartolo (46′ Zouglis), Crespi, Kaltsas (65′ Sito), Miritelo.

Referee: Alexandros Katsikogiannis

A’ Assistant: Polychronis Kostaras

B’ Assistant: Konstantinos Staikos

4th referee: Efstathios Gortsilas

VAR: Angel Evangelou

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