With the heart of… champions
In a hard-fought match, which had it all in terms of tension, bad tempers, and goals, PAOK did not give up and left Peristeri with a determined three-point haul, beating Atromitos 2-1 on Matchday 3 of the 2024-25 Stoiximan Super League.
Despote having only one day to prepare, PAOK went to Athens with the right attitude, did not succumb to fatigue, fought until the last second, and celebrated an impressive victory in what is a traditionally difficult venue to play at for the club.
Atromitos showed their quality on the pitch and in the first half it was tough going for Razvan Lucescu’s team. But, on the positive side, the visitors’ defensive line and goalkeeper Dominik Kotarski kept a clean sheet, removing any threat that came this way. PAOK tried to be dangerous on the counter-attack, but there they were stopped by the referee Zambalas, who on three occasions put a halt unnecessarily to three PAOK attacks.
Nevertheless, the Double-headed Eagle found the solution. Konstantelias , Shortire and A.Zivkovic combined excellently in the last phase of the first half and the Serbian winger made it 1-0.
In the second half, PAOK came out transformed and in the mood to finish the game. They kept the ball at their feet, played methodically and in the 69th minute found the net again, with Chalov providing an assist for Andrija Zivkovic to score. However, the referee and VAR had a different opinion and disallowed the ‘goal’ for an offensive foul (!) by Baba .
In the 85th minute, Atromitos managed to score a goal against the run of play. In a phase that actually started with a foul on Murg outside the home team’s area – which was not given as the referee decided to give an advantage instead of returning the phase to the initial foul on the Austrian. Atromitos went on the counter and won a penalty when the ball hit Jonny Otto’s hand, with Warda scoreing from the spot to make it 1-1.
However, as mentioned, PAOK did not give up. Keeping faith in the plan and their abilities, the visitors fought and found the winning goal in the 90th minute.
Despodov took a free-kick from the left, and Mady Kamara popped up to send the ball into the back of the net and give his team another important three-point haul.
Team lineups:
Atromitos: Koselev, Mundes, Tsakmakis, Boorson, Athanasiou, Ouedraogo, Gonzalez (Vrakas 65′), Baku (Jubitana 74′), Mihorl, Warda, Carlitos (Van Feert 65′).
PAOK: Kotarski, Otto, Kedziora, Michailidis, Baba, Ozdoev (Kamara 72′), Schwab, Zivkovic, Konstantelias (Despodov 87′), Shortire (Murg 72′), Chalov (Tissoudali 72′).
