AEK: Pineda is on the bench for the first time in two matches of the season

OR AEK won over Peristeri (0-1) with Orbelin Pineda to be out of the lineup but not to enter the match even as a substitute. Something like this is very rare for the Mexican midfielder, as in his first two years with the team it had happened only once, in the match of the “32” of the Cup with PAS Ioannina on October 20, 2022, clearly then for reasons of rotation. Last year there was no such match, while this year it already counts twosince before the game with Atromitos, he had remained on the bench without coming on as a substitute in the first match of the season, in the 4-3 win over Inter D’Escaldes from Andorra at the OPAP Arena, as he was then counting a few days from his integration into the preparation after the commitments with Mexico and his summer leave.

However, it is not the first time that the 28-year-old ace is on the bench in three straight league games. Last year, the same thing happened from the second to the fourth matchday in the games against Panserraikos (1-1), Volos (2-3) and Olympiakos (1-1), with Pineda coming on as a substitute in all of them. If he doesn’t start next Saturday against Asteras, he will break his… record.

In his first season at AEK, 2022/23had played in 25 of the 26 games of the regular season as a starter and in one match, with Atromitos in Peristeri for the 21st matchday (0-1) he had come on as a substitute in the 76th minute. In the playoffs he had also played in all the games, in seven starters and in three coming off the bench, against Ari at home (in the 60′), at Olympiakos at home (in the 60′) and against Volos at home (in the 52′). In the Cup, he was left out of the team in one match (with PAS for the fifth round), on the bench in the rematch with Panserraikos (for the quarter-finals), while he played in three matches as a starter and in another three as a substitute. In total, he made 42 appearances, starting 34 of them, while he was out of commission in only one game and was on the bench in one more.

Last year, in his second season at “Union” (2023/24)he played in 34 of the 44 games he played as a starter, while he was left out of the mission in four matches and never stayed on the bench without being substituted. He was out of action in the regular season of the championship in the matches with Atromito at home, Panaitolikos and Panserraikos away, while in the 23 he played he came from the bench in seven. In the playoffs he played in ALL 10 matches, but came on as a substitute in three, in the defeat by Panathinaikos in Leoforos (in the 57th minute), in the victory over Aris in Thessaloniki (in the 71st minute) and in the victory against Lamia in the OPAP Arena ( at 46′). In the Champions League qualifiers he played in all the matches as a starter, while in the Europa League group he counted five matches as a starter but lost due to force majeure this against Ajax in Amsterdam. In the Cup, he played in all the matches with Aris for the “16”.

This year (2024/25) he has played in 9 of the 10 league matches so far, coming off the bench in three of them, with Levadeiako away (in the 74′), PAOK in (in the 75′) and Panserraikos away (in the 46′), while yesterday he stayed for second time this year on the bench. The same had happened in the first match against Inter D’Escaldes for the Conference League qualifiers, while he was absent from the second leg with a virus. In the games with Noa he played in the first starter and was replaced and in the second he came from the bench (in the 46′), while – finally – in the first Cup match with Aris he played as a starter.