A perfect start…
No anxiety, no surprises, no absentees, no adventures… PAOK stepped on the pitch to win and did so emphatically, impressively. They thrashed Dinamo Minsk 6-1, equaling their largest home victory in the European Cups. The “Double-Headed Eagle” made their fans happy by dominating their encounter from minute one until the final whistle.
Everything went like clockwork right from the start, in the 3rd minute. Răzvan Raț took the corner and Nemanja Nikolić headed the ball past his own goalkeeper. The storm had just begun…
What more can one say about Stefanos Athanasiadis? He makes sure that words are not enough to describe his feats on the pitch. He netted an authentic hat-trick in 17 minutes (11’, 17’, 28’) in every possible manner. For starters, he intercepted the ball from the defender to score, then he headed the ball home and afterwards he took the rebound following a turnover by the goalkeeper. His trade-mark one touch sending the ball at the back of the net and then raising his right arm to wave to the fans who stand in ovation. His partner in crime? Răzvan Raț, doing what he does best: serving goals. Three of the four goals in the first half came from his assists, in his 100th European match. The 4-0 scoreline before the interval didn’t leave any margin of hope for the visitors or doubt for the outcome. The die had been cast, the Belarussians were downbeat and utterly disappointing. The only question-mark was the extent of the scoreline…
After the interval, it was time for some long-awaited debuts. Dimitris Papadopoulos made his Toumba debut as a PAOK player in the 46th minute and netted his first PAOK goal four minutes later! First PAOK goal for Fanis Tzandaris as well, who sealed the “Double-Headed Eagle’s” account in the 88th minute. The visitors had scored a consolation goal eight minutes earlier through Nikolić, who tried to redeem himself for the owngoal. Debut evening for Eyal Golasa as well, who got some playing time, as he is returning from injury.
It was the evening of records at Toumba. Dimitris Salpingidis climb to 3rd place of the all-time appearances list in the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League, while Athanasiadis scored the first hat-trick of a PAOK player in European competition and the second fastest in the history of the UEFA Europa League. Raț played his 100th European game and PAOK leveled their largest home victory (a feat achieved 13 years ago, 6-1 over 1.FK Příbram).
Angelos Anastasiadis’ troops treated their fans to a dreamy performance. The team is winning the crowds and hopefully this run will not end… The coach, always pragmatic, said after the encounter: “We have a long way to go. We could have done more tonight, put our rivals in more trouble. We must work individually and collectively in order to be ready for the more demanding encounters of the season against bigger teams”.
Line-ups:
PΑΟΚ: Glykos, Skondras, Raț (Spyropoulos 72′), Κatsikas, Vítor, Τziolis, Τzandaris, Kace, Mak (Papadopoulos 46′), Salpingidis, Athanasiadis (Golasa 67′).
Dinamo Minsk: Gutor, Voronkov (Figueredo 57′), Simović, Politevich, Dja Djedje (Adamović 33′), Nikolić, Udoji (Rassadkin 88′), Karpovich, Bangura, Veretilo, Stasevich.
