A 90-minute mirror image of PAOK’s season
In a match which was a painful mirror image of the team’s 2022-23 season, the Double-headed Eagle slipped to a 2-0 defeat to AEK in the Greek Cup final at the Panthessaliniko Stadium in Volos on Wednesday (24.05).
The game started with AEK going down to 10 players early on due to Lazaros Rota’s dismissal for a professional foul. PAOK tried patiently tried to find the opening goal in the first half, creating and missing a number of important chances with Sastre’s cross-shot as the highlight, but AEK managed to take the lead against the run of play via Moukoudi from a set-piece.
In the second half, PAOK seemed to collapse mentally, and although they still created some good chances to equalize, they could not find the goal they were looking for. Then AEK went down the other end in stoppage time and scored a second courtesy of Paulo Fernandez.
Team lineups:
AEK: Stankovic, Vida, Moukoudi, Haji Safi, Rota, Syzmanski (62′ Jonsson), Pineda (61′ Sidibe), Gacinovic (86′ Fernandez), Eliasson (82′ Mandalos), Levi Garcia (61′ Amrabat), Zuber
PAOK: Kotarski, Sastre (61′ Vieirinha), Ingason, Koulierakis (85′ Kedziora), Rafa Soares (61′ Biseswar), Schwab (78′ El Kaddouri), Augusto, A. Zivkovic, Taison, Konstantelias (85′ Tzimas), Brandon.
