Pregame
Kick Off
Half Time
Goals
Penalty
Substitution
Corners
Offside
Opportunity
Barshot
Comment
Yellow Card
Second Yellow Card
Red card
Missed Penalty
PAOK clinch derby win and move clear at top
A PAOK side with a clear gameplan, composure, and absolute determination, defeated Panathinaikos 2-1 in Sunday’s big derby showdown and moved two points clear at the top of the table.
The Double-headed Eagle started the game with a clear strategy and plan, faith in their work, and in the end celebrated an impressive triumph against their closest title rivals who had shared the top of the standings with them before kick-off.
The first half was characterized by a lot of tactical battles, plenty of errors and tension, but not a lot of clear scoring chances. PAOK did start strong though, and threatened first with a cross from Baba , with Brandon not managing to get teh contact he would have liked with a prodded effort. Panathinaikos, for their part, saw a Bakasetas shot go narrowly over the crossbar.
PAOK continued to try and press for the opening goal as half-time approached, and the home side did find the back of the net in the 37th minute through Koulierakis, but his header was later ruled out after a VAR review signaled an offside.
However, Razvan Lucescu’s players continued to press and they were vindicated in the 43rd minute, following a great counter-attack. On that breakaway, Taison released the overlapping Despodov and the Bulgarian made it 1-0 with a clinical, diagnol shot.
That gave the hosts the advantage going into half-time, but the second half started in the worst possible way for PAOK. Just four minutes in, match referee Rohit Saggi consultated VAR for a penalty cleam after Bakasetas went down under a challenge from Taison, and the Panathinaikos midfielder took the spot-kick himself, sending the ball into the back of the net with a powerful finish down the middle to make it 1-1.
PAOK’s response was immediate. A magical combination of passing was crucial to restore the home side’s advantage in the 56th minute. Taison again was at the forefront, exposing the Greens‘ defence with a run and cross into the penalty area. Sastre let the ball run with a nice dummy for Despodov, and the Bulgaria captain made it 2-1 with another cool finish from close range.
Lucescu’s players then took control of the match, pressing high and managing to create more scoring chances, with Konstantelias in the 74th minute shooting from a good position, but the ball went narrowly wide. Mr.Breeze had another good chance in the 80th minute, when he cut in from a wide position into the penalty area, but Dragovski parried the effort for a corner, from which another good moment came for the hosts, but Brandon couldn’t score from a good position.
In the 83rd minute, Marcos Antonio sent the ball wide with a header after Konstantelias’ cross. In the 86th minute, Panathinaikos threatened but Kotarski was alert there saved from Mladenovic.
In the last minutes of the match, the Double-headed Eagle players remained focused and managed to keep the 2-1 result intact until the final whistle and enjoyed an important win that put them top of the Stoiximan Super League standings.
Team lineups:
PAOK: Kotarski, Baba, Koulierakis, Kedziora, Sastre, Ozdoev (Schwab 88′), Meite, Taison (Konstandelias 71′), Murg (Marcos Antonio 78′), Despodov (A.Zivkovic 71′), Brandon (Tzimas 88′).
Panathinaikos: Dragovski, Mladenovic, Hugo (Cherin 46′), Jedvaj, Vagiannidis (Limnios 64′), Arao, Kotsiras, Aitor (Djuricic 46′), Bakasetas, Mancini (Vilhena 89′), Jeremejev (Bernard 46′).
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