Pregame
Kick Off
Half Time
Goals
Penalty
Substitution
Corners
Offside
Opportunity
Barshot
Comment
Yellow Card
Second Yellow Card
Red card
Missed Penalty
Qualification to be decided at "Leoforos"
In a closely-contested game characterized by tough duels, intensity and tension, PAOK paid the price for a moment of hesitation and were defeated 1-0 by Panathinaikos in the first leg of their 2023-24 Betsson Greek Cup semi-final, with the tie now delciately balanced and open ahead of the second leg in seven days in Athens.
Despite featuring many new faces in the starting line-up, PAOK showed their intention of playing their game, while Panathinaikos in turn tried to press high up the pitch, to try and spoil the home side’s plan and play on the counter attack.
Razvan Lucescu’s team were the first to threaten. Despodov , after a cross from A.Zivkovic , failed narrowly to get his foot to the ball in the 13th minute. Two minutes later, Dragovski reacted wall and blocked Brandon before he could shoot, while in the 21st minute the Panathinaikos goalkeeper made a big save from another attempt by PAOK’s Spanish forward.
It was the hosts who had another great chance just before the break, when Brandon attempted to score from a rebound in the 42nd minute, but the ball went just wide.
The second half started in the worst possible way for PAOK. Sporar made it 1-0 to the visitors from close range after saving Kotarski had saved from Bernard’s header in the 53rd minute and put Panathinaikos in the lead.
In the 60th minute, Kotarski then saved Sporar’s shot from inside the penalty area and then it was PAOK who took the initiative and looked for an equaliser.
In the 75th minute, Dragovski made another great save to deny Samatta’s header, while Murg then shot wide from a good position afterwards. In the 80th minute, the Dutch referee Allard Lindhout showed a red card to both Taison and Bakasetas for a skirmish, while in the third minute of added time PAOK came agonisingly close to a leveller when Meite’s shot hit the post.
The score then remained 1-0 to the visitors at the final whistle, and the two teams will settle their differences in a week’s time at «Leoforos».
Team lineups:
PAOK: Kotarski, Rafa, Michailidis, Kedziora, Otto, Schwab (Ozdoev 76′), Tsingaras (Meite 63′), Marcos Antonio (Taison 63′), Despodov (Murg 63′), A.Zivkovic, Brandon (Samatta 70′ ).
Panathinaikos: Dragovski, Jedvaj, Mladenovic (Juankar 86′), Kotsiras, Arao, Ruben, Bakasetas, Bernard (Vagiannidis 86′), Cerin (Schenkefeld 86′), Palacios (Mancini 68′), Sporar (Zeka 74′).
{{timelineDisplay(comment)}}
:
{{comment.extra_data.media.caption}}
{{timelineDisplay(comment)}}
: