PAOK stand firm in Athens
PAOK traveled to Athens with significant absentees. They lost their main striker in the first 20 minutes and were forced into a change of plan. Following a mistake they then found themselves a goal down. However, Razvan Lucescu’s PAOK side have learned not to give up and they proved at once more agfter leaving “Leoforos” with a creditable draw on Matchday 8 of the 2022-23 Stoiximan Super League Play Offs.
A somewehat beleaguered PAOK traveled to Athens with the goal of getting a win and they battled manfully for it for over 95 minutes. A mistake in the first half and a lack of composure in the final third, however, deprived them of the three points.
Against a highly motivated home team, PAOK did exceptionally well, dominating most of the match but the finer details saw them robbed of victory.
The hosts tried to spring a surprise and they succeeded in the ninth minute with Sporar providing an assist for Mancini who beat Kotarski with a clinical shot to make it 1-0 to the home side following a poor defensive clearance by the latter.
PAOK responded through Oliveira, but his header missed the target in the 14th minute. PAOK began to make inroads into the home side’s half and pushed for an equaliser, but in the 28th minute they were forced to change their plans as Oliveira withdrew due to injury.
Brandon Thomas came on to replace the Portuguese and in the 39th minute he missed a great scoring opportunity as Brignoli made a save following Rafa Soares’ cross.
In the 45th minute, Kotarski saved from Bernard and the 1-0 scoreline remained that way at the half-time break. In the second half, PAOK came out in determined mood and were clearly stronger than their opponents, pressing hard. Their efforts vrought an equalizing goal in the 60th minute.
Felipe Soares played in Brandon Thomas , he surged into the penalty area and produced a smart finish off the post to make it 1-1.
Panathinaikos tried to respond immediately but Kotarski made two great saves to deny Bernard. In the 62nd minute he first saved from the Brazilian who found himself one-on-one, while three minutes later the home midfielder’s deflected free-kick was saved brilliantly by Kotarski.
From then on, the game only had one team in it, or so it seemed. And that team was PAOK. The high-pressing visitors penned Panathinaikos back in their own half, won possession time and again, but failed to find their final passes, with the Greens then also hitting the post in the 80th minute through Mancini against the run of play.
Home center-back Schenkefeld was shown a straight red in the 84th minute for a foul on Brandon , but even with the numerical advantage Lucescu’s team couldn’t find a solution to get the three points.
Team lineups:
Panathinaikos: Brignioli, Kotsiras, Schenkefeld, Sarlia, Juankar, Mancini (86′ Palacios), Cerin, Tsokai (87′ Magnusson), Bernard (74′ Kleinheisler), Ioannidis, Sporar (62′ Perez).
PAOK: Kotarski, Lyratzis (81′ Vieirinha), Kedziora, Nasberg, Rafa Soares, Dantas (71′ Schwab), Filipe Soares, A. Zivkovic, El Kaddouri (81′ Biseswar), Konstantelias, Oliveira (28′ Brandon).
