Under-17s claim finals win [pictures]
In the early final of for the Under-17s, PAOK beat Olympiakos 2-1, and thus securing a place in the Final Four of the championship. Despite falling behind, PAOK recovered, sent the game into extra-time, and clinched victory with a goal in the 115th minute in what was a great match for the neutral.
The two teams played good football, in a free-flowing match that had chances on both sides, dynamism and lots of passion for the entire 90 minutes. Plus the half hour of extra-time too, of course…
Olympiacos had the upper hand in the first half, with PAOK however threatening to counter-attack and even missing an important opportunity to take the lead with Scznauczner’s shot that rattled the crossbar.
Olympiacos then took the lead in the 47th minute, and from that moment the Double-headed Eagle took control and they were determined to equalize. In one of their threatening moments on the opposing area, in fact, resulted in the Olympiacos goalkeeper being sent off. And in the 86th minute, PAOK equalized via Chatsidis‘ header from Kessidis‘ cross. The match then went into extra-time with PAOK winning and finally managing to turn their supremacy into another goal. The crucial mmoment came in the 115th minute, Papageorgiou finding Tsobanis nicely with the latter scoring to make the final score 2-1.
The championship continues, of course, with the second phase and the teams now down to two groups now.
PAOK lineup: Tsintsolis, Tsiotas (57′ Tsobanis), Polykratis, Panikidis, Kosidis (98′ Kalioglou), Scznauczner, Kesidis, Papageorgiou, Chatsidis, Karaioannou (72′ Kalaitsidis), Politakis (106′ Vryzas).
