Under-19’s prove unbeatable again
This team simply does not know how to lose. Even when they are not at their best and everything goes against them, PAOK’s Under-19 side somehow manage to find a way to get what it wants – a trait which was evident in Sunday’s derby clash with Panathinaikos in Athens as the Black and Whites took another important step towards the league title.
Pablo Garcia and Miroslav Schanuazner’s team escaped from their tough match with the Greens with a valuable point on Matchday 22 of the 2019-20 Super League, despite playing for 40 minutes with a player less. The result maintained PAOK’s two-point lead over Panathinaiks at the top of the table.\
The Dikefalos tou Vorra began the match strongly, aiming to take the game to the home side and claim all three points. They were up against an exceptional team in Panathinaikos, who controlled much of the play in the first half. Even though PAOK were forced to play on the counter attack, Garcia’s players missed two good chances to score within the first 15 minutes with Doumtsis and Tziolis failing to convert.
In the 25th minute Panathinaikos went in front through Athanasakopoulos, and that’s the way the scores remained up to half-time, with both goalkeepers pulling off a fine save apiece.
The second half began in ideal fashion for the visitors. Just 20 seconds after the restart Tsopouroglou produced a clinical finish to make it 1-1.
From then on it was PAOK who had control of proceedings and after 51 minutes Doumtsis came close to scoring from inside the penalty area but his effort was blocked by the Greens’ goalkeeper .
The balance of play changed after 57 minutes when Panagiotou was given his marching orders after receiving a second yellow card, leaving PAOK with 10 players to see out the game.
From that point on the home side dominated the player as they looked for a winning goal. In reality, Panathinaikos only managed to really threaten the visitors’ goal on two occasions, with Michailidis clearing the ball off the line twice in the 69th minute, and Alexandropoulos hit the PAOK crossbar in stoppage time with a powerful shot.
In the end PAOK came away from Athens with a hugely valuable point, maintaining their two-point advantage ahead of the Greens and extending their unbeaten run to a remarkable 65 matches.
PAOK line-up:
Talichmanidis, Panagiotou, Michailidis, Kaloutsikidis, Tsiggaras, Tachatos, Tziolis (86′ Theodoridis), Giaxis, Gorteziani, Doumtsis (86′ Panidis), Tsopouroglou (79′ Karaberis).
