Ten-men PAOK didn’t make it
PAOK suffered yet another away defeat, losing 4-0 to Atromitos at Peristeri. The heavy scoreline doesn’t reflect the actual distance between the two sides when playing 11 vs 11. However, after Stefanos Athanasiadis’ dismissal just before half-time with a second bookable offence (nobody understood why he received the first yellow card by referee Aretopoulos in the first place), the match’s complexion changed dramatically.
In the first half, PAOK were in possession and created chances to score, but conceded the opener against the run of play, as Atromitos converted their first actual shot on goal. After the dismissal of Klaus, turning the match around became an extremely tall order for the Thessaloniki outfit.
As it often happens, it never rains, it pours. PAOK conceded a second goal right after the interval and there was no return from there. Atromitos were happy to wait and just make the most of PAOK’s risky tactics, as the “Double-Headed Eagle” went forward to search for a goal in numeric inferiority, leaving defensive gaps.
Line-ups:
Atromitos: Gorbunov, Pitu García, Katsouranis, Lazaridis, Fytanidis, Kivrakidis, Kouros, Dimoutsos (66′ Brito), Umbides, Napoleoni (79′ Papazoglou), Marcelinho (65′ Agouazi).
PAOK: Itandje, Skondras (73′ Konstantinidis), Vítor, Costa, Raț, Noboa, Kace, Pereyra (86′ Golasa), Salpingidis (56′ Tziolis), Mak, Athanasiadis.
