Heart, soul, and mettle
PAOK found themselves two goals down to unlikely strikes out of nowhere, but they did not give up and were vindicated at the end as Razvan Lucescu’s side battled to a 2-2 draw at the OPAP Arena against AEK in the top-of-the-table derby and remain top of the standings.
The first half was a tense affair, with a lot of duels going on all over the pitch, some tough challenges and plenty of running and pressing from both teams. That had the effect of both sets of players essentially nulifying each other. In fact, until the 30th minute, there wasn’t much of a chance of note to highlight. But it was at that point that AEK struck on the counter-attack and took the lead with Gacinovic the scorer.
The home team’s opening goal did not change the pattern of the game and the 1-0 scoreline remained intact until the end of the first half, as Kedziora’s header went just wide of Athanasiadis’ goal.
The start to the second half was the worst possible way for Lucescu’s team to try and mount their fightback, as a hopeful, low direct free-kick from Amrabat skidded across the goalmouth and into the bottom corner to make it 2-0 just three minutes in to second period.
Somewhere there, however, PAOK’s ‘refuse to lose’ mentality kicked in. PAOK raised their intensity and looked for the goal that would put them back in the game. And they found it in the 62nd minute.
Konstantelias troubled the home side’s defence on the edge of the penalty area, and he laid the ball off to Baba who made it 2-1 with a powerful snapshot and set up a grandstand finale to the match, which swung to and fro until the final whistle.
But PAOK had not had the last word just yet. That came in the 89th minute after a corner kick when Koulierakis won a header, Ozdoev then sent the ball into the back of the net with an impressive effort and PAOK left Athens with a crucial point, remaining in first place in the standings.
The Double-headed Eagle now turn their attention to the upcoming battles with Club Brugge in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa Conference League.
Team lineups:
AEK: Athanasiadis, Rota (Sidibe 79′), Moukoudi, Vida, Hadjisafi, Syzmanski, Gacinovic (Mandalos 86′), Pineda (Fernandez 86′), Eliasson, Amrabat (Jonsson 72′), Levi Garcia (Ponce 46′).
PAOK: Kotarski, Baba, Koulierakis, Kedziora, Otto (Sastre 59′), Meite, Schwab (Ozdoev 66′), Konstantelias, Murg (Despodov 59′), A.Zivkovic, Brandon (Samatta 59′).
