AEK stayed alive in the title battle and sent Olympiacos to a fifth match in the finals

AEK showed the spirit of a champion and tied the Handball Premier finals series with Olympiakos at 2-2!

Playing with their backs against the wall after their defeat at Nice last Monday (10/6), Union responded behind closed doors due to their suspension from the second final, closed to Ionian New Philadelphia, and produced a superb second-half performance , celebrated the victory with 28-23.

Thus, the title of the champion will be decided in a fifth and final match, which will be held in the coming Sunday (6/16) at the headquarters of the “red and white”.

The first scorer for the winners was Liapis with 5 goals, while the Lemos, Miller and Salem they scored 4 times each, while for Olympiakos 5 goals were scored by Saturday and 4 o Passias.

The race:



Olympiacos entered stronger and took a 2-0 lead, but AEK, with consecutive excellent defenses and three goals in a row by Tick, went ahead for the first time (3-2), before Passias scored for the 3-3 at 5′. Sliskovic scored a surprise goal to put Olympiacos back in front 3-4, while Liapis scored two goals in a row (the second with a superb finish) to make it two for AEK, before Sliskovics and Savvas both put Olympiacos into the final for the second time at +2 (5-7).

In the 11th minute, Kandylas put Piraeus at +3 (5-8) for the first time, while AEK made continuous mistakes in attacks and saw Sliskovits score his fourth personal goal, for 5-9. Liapis got Union out of the deadlock, scoring three of his own goals and reducing to 6-9, while in the 16th minute he became the first scorer of the match, shaping the 7-9. The hosts dominated for two minutes, with Lemos reducing the goal (9-10), with Olympiacos reacting and staying at +2 (11-13), until AEK made a 3-0 run and entered the driver’s position for the first time since 3-2 (14-13). Miller executed a penalty on the crossbar, Michaelidis equalized and Salem gave AEK the lead again, while the first half in perfect balance and 15-15.

The hosts were superior after the two teams returned from the locker room and with a 4-1 streak, she led for the first time in the final with +3 (19-16), maintaining this lead until the 23-20, thanks to the goals of Kederis, Belasen and Liapis. Sliskovic reduced it to 23-21 for the “red and whites” and Miller hit a penalty taken by Liapis for 24-21, with Tziras giving Olympiakos a breather again, scoring for the 24-22 and entering the last quarter of the final.

Savvas sent the ball into the net after a great feint, cutting into the goal, with Lemos bringing AEK back to +2 (25-23) and Miller scoring with another well-timed penalty kick, for 26-23 and 5 minutes before the finale. Now stressed, Olympiacos did not find solutions through its hasty attacks and AEK celebrated the victory with the final 28-23sending the Finals series to a decisive Game 5.

The five minutes: 3-3, 5-7, 6-9, 10-12, 14-13, 15-15 (m), 18-16, 20-17, 21-19, 24-21, 26-23, 28-23

AEK (Bouzon): Arabatzis 2, Tick 3, Mallios 1, Teper, Iliopoulos, Tome 1, Papadionisiou, Liapis 5, Arsic, Belasen 1, Sokolic, Miller 4, Lemos 4, Kederis 3, Salem 4

Olympiakos (Babic): Kotanidis, Tziras 3, Karabourniotis, Papavasilis 3, Tzimboulas 1, Papantonopoulos, Kandylas 1, Sliskovics 2, Dombris, Tsigaridas, Passias 4, Montoro, Slavoulitsa, Kavcits 2, Michaelidis 2, Savvas 5.

Referees: Tzaferopoulos and Bettman, Seconds: 3-5, Penalties: 4/5-3/3