Pregame
Kick Off
Half Time
Goals
Penalty
Substitution
Corners
Offside
Opportunity
Barshot
Comment
Yellow Card
Second Yellow Card
Red card
Missed Penalty
The best team didn't go through
Many clichés have been said and written about football. Today, most of them were confirmed at the Toumba Stadium. PAOK completely dominated AEK, missed a lot of scoring opportunities, scored a goal in the final stages of the 90 minutes and sent the match to extra time. Again the hosts were clearly superior in the extra-half hour, but a goal from nowhere by Moses Odubajo with AEK’s only chance gave the visitors the qualification. There was a superb atmosphere in a packed Toumba, with the PAOK fans once again showing top-class support and behavior and applauding the efforts of the players.
PAOK had a clear plan from the first minutes of the match to take control and methodically search for a goal. The first big moment of the match came in the 17th minute. Andrija Zivkovic made an excellent move from the right, passing to Taison, but the Brazilian’s shot was blocked by Moukoudi.
A minute later, Chalov , with a pass on the move, tried to release Konstantelias , but Jonsson caught up with him and cleared it. In the 32nd minute, Taison once again found himself in an advantageous position and fired a shot goalwards, but Brignoli saved it. In the 37th minute, Otto next had an effort from inside the area, Haji Safi tried to clear it, and the ball hit Brignoli’s post.
In the 40th minute, it was A. Zivkovic’s turn to threaten. The Serb entered the penalty area nicely from the right, before twisting to bring the ball onto his left to shoot, but his curling effort went narrowly wide. That meant the teams went into the dressing rooms at half-time with the score locked at 0-0.
PAOK came out strong in the second half and in the 48th minute Taison sent the ball over the bar, after a cross from Sastre . The half wore on and the pattern of the match remained the same, with the home side in control. In the 70th minute, the phase of the 32nd minute was repeated, with Brignoli again making a a good save from Taison.
AEK missed their only chance of the 90 minutes when Pineda’s shot deflected off Michailides and cannoned off Kotarski’s crossbar in the 74th minute.
Despite the fact that the time was running out, the hosts did not give up, kept their cool and fought with all their might for the goal. In the end, they were vindicated in the first minute of injury time, after Sastre had earlier failed to score from close range.
Kedziora collected the ball from Despodov and crossed, with the ball reaching A. Zivkovic, who socred with a clinical placed finish to spark jubilant celebrations in the Toumba stands.
The 1-0 scoreline remained teh same until the end of normal time, and so both teams readied themselves for an extra half-hour to decide the winner. PAOK proceeded to then miss the first great opportunity of extra-time in the 94th minute, with Mady Kamara being denied by another excellent Brignoli save.
AEK finally found what they wanted with the start of the second half of extra time. Paulo Fernandes crossed from the right, found Odubajo, and he scored with a powerful snapshot to make it 1-1.
PAOK fought until the last second, missed some further good opportunities, but did not find the goal they wanted and suffered elimination from the competition.
The referee’s final whistle saw the PAOK players looking dejected, but having won the applause of the Toumba Stadium, who gave a lesson in good fan behavior and praised the PAOK players for their efforts.
Team lineups:
PAOK: Kotarski, Otto, Michailides, Kedziora, Sastre (Vieirinha 105’), Ozdoev (Schwab 84’), Kamara, Konstantelias (Tissoudali 84’), Taison (Despodov 76’), A. Zivkovic (Shoretire 97’), Chalov (Samatta 64’).
AEK: Brignoli, Haji Safi, Moukoudi, Mitoglou, Rota (Odubajo 91’), Pineda (Mandalos 88’), Pereira (Gacinovic 79’), Jonsson, Martial (Koita 88’), Garcia (Fernandes 76’), Lamela (Pierro 76’).
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