Pregame
Kick Off
Half Time
Goals
Penalty
Substitution
Corners
Offside
Opportunity
Barshot
Comment
Yellow Card
Second Yellow Card
Red card
Missed Penalty
Focused PAOK clinch three points
This time, PAOK kept their composure, never relaxed, and in the end they came away victorious. With some new faces and plenty of energy, despite Thursday’s difficult European game, PAOK were dominant against Levadiakos and claimed an important victory courtesy of Mady Kamara and closed the gap from the top.
The coaching staff threw Pena and Wieteska in at the deep end, giving starting berths to both newcomers, as well as Shoretire, Sastre and Tissoudali, while Mady Camara returned after his suspension in the European game.
It was a given that the game would not be easy at all, with Levadiakos having shown themselves to be a tough opponent to beat and good away form. This was evident from the start of the match, with the Viotians being excellent on the counter-attack and testing the reflexes of Kotarski twice, who with two key saves kept the score at 0-0.
PAOK then threatened with two shots from Baba and Sastre , but they did not find the target, while in the 24th minute, Tissoudali was through one-on-one with Levadiakos ‘keeper Garavelis, after an excellent dribble to beat Erramuspe, but he was blocked by Garavelis before he could get a shot away. The first half ended with a nice effort from PAOK, with Shoretire finding Konstantelias , but the young Greece international midfielder was unable to score.
PAOK entered the second half strongly and in the 51st minute they missed a great opportunity following a cross by Sastre, with Tissoudali missing from a good position, while Ozdoev , after coming off the bench, had a good chance with a header.
In the 60th minute, Kedziora scored, but after a VAR review, the goal was disallowed for offside. The technical staff then sent both Chalov and Taison on, with the Russian missing a chance with his first touch.
Finally, the solution was provided in the 82nd minute. The scene was familiar. A right-wing cross from Despodov , a header from Kamara and 1-0 to PAOK! The home side found the breakthrough they were looking for and it remained to be seen how they reacted in the final minutes, and they did exactly what was needed to manage the game.
PAOK tried to find a second goal immediately, and Pelkas , who also received his baptism of fire playing for the first time since his return, combined perfectly with Vieirinha , but Garavelis made a save from his attempted backheel. In the final moments Levadiakos tried desperately to find an equalizer, but the PAOK defense did not give them a chance, with Kedziora, Wieteska and Kotarski all prodcing good blocks.
PAOK claimed three valuable points and, combined with the draw between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos in the derby, reduced the gap from the top to seven points.
Team lineups:
PAOK: Kotarski, Sastre, Kedziora, Wieteska, Baba, Pena (Ozdoev 52’), Kamara, Shoretire (Taison 70’), Konstantelias (Pelkas 85’), Despodov (Vieirinha 85’), Tissoudali (Chalov 70’).
Levadiakos: Garavelis, Vichos, Moreira, Erramuspe, Liagas, Abu Hanna, Kostis, Cokaj (Katris 85’), Kassos (Ozbold 85’), Gianniotas (Lamarana 55’), Zini.
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