Twenty years later: Ioannidis reminded… Eki Gonzales with his necklace

THE Fotis Ioannidis put the icing on the cake at victory of Panathinaikos over Dinamo Minsk making it 4-0 with an amazing shot from about 35 meters. The international forward, seeing the opposing goalkeeper many meters outside his goal, made the ideal finish and scored one of the most beautiful goals of the season.

But also one that awakened memories of an improbable goal for the “greens”. It was 20 years ago, on October 20, 2004when Panathinaikos welcomed the mighty Arsenal to the Avenue for the Champions League groups. The Gunners, who came from the historic unbeaten championship, had taken the lead through Freddy Ljungberg in the 18th minute, but Zdenek Skazny’s “greens” did not lay down their weapons. In the 65th minute Rudolf Schatzel attempted a ball in the back of the defense towards Emmanuel Olisandebe, with Jens Lehmann coming out and heading it away from just outside the area. THE Eki Gonzales he took the… rebound and from a very difficult angle and from a long distance, he managed to pass the ball through the… hole of the needle and “hang” the goalkeeper of the England national team for 1-1.

This goal by the Argentinian virtuoso was also combined with a great result, since even though the great Thierry Henry had given the Londoners the lead again in the 74th minute, Olisadebe headed in a corner from Angelos Basinas in the 82nd minute to make the final 2-2.