PAOK started the game with the goal of keeping the ball and playing their game, but at no point in the first half did they manage to look threatening.

The hosts, for their part, pressed high up the pitch and in the 12th minute they hit the crossbar when Ponce was the player denied, while in the 17th minute they managed to take the lead with Pineda scoring with a powerful header from a Mantalos cross.

Razvan Lucescu’s side tried to mount a reaction but could not find space and the 1-0 score remained unchanged until the half-time break.

In the second half, PAOK tried to raise the tempo and their intensity and find an equaliser, but in the 55th minute, AEK scored a knockout second goal after a lapse of concentration at the back allowed Eliasson to score.

Still, PAOK became more dynamic, Lucescu threw on all the weapons available to him from the bench, but some poor decision-making outside the opposition penalty area meant they could not fashion notable chances.

The 2-0 scoreline remained that way until the final whistle and the Double-headed Eagle squad must now put this poor night at the OPAP Arena behind them and regroup ahead of the next games, as the championship still has a long way to go.

Team lineups:

AEK: Stankovic, Sidibe, Vida, Mukoudi, Mohammadi, Syzmanski (83′ Gacinovic), Jonsson (64′ Galanopoulos), Pineda, Eliasson (82′ Amrabat), Mantalos (64′ Zuber), Ponce (83′ Pizarro).

PAOK: Kotarski, Vieirinha (46′ Sastre), Ekong, Nasberg (60′ Koulierakis), Baba, Meite, Ozdoev (75′ Schwab), Konstantelias, Despodov (60′ Taison), A. Zivkovic, Samatta (75′ Brandon).