He was just 18 years old, but had already spent 10 years at his favourite club, before getting the nod to substitute Sotiris Balafas in the 77th minute of the encounter against Larissa in Toumba.

At that time, he was unable of course to imagine how much his life would change through an impressive yet hard journey. Stefanos Athanasiadis quickly earned the fans’ affection. It wasn’t hard to. He was young, had been at PAOK since childhood, was a prolific scorer with an odd star quality for his age. Fans felt proud seeing him score.

When the going got tough, all these strong feelings turned from blessing to curse. Because he was the one to experience the fans’ most intense outbreaks. “It’s the worst thing I have gone through”, he says.

Someone else might have opted to leave, that would have been easy. But not Klaus. He weighed the situation, set his priorities, accepted his role and stayed at Toumba. “You know what? I understand perfectly what is happening”, he said one year ago to Toumba Magazine and presented his reasoning: “Players come and go, but I have been here since I was a child, I know very well what PAOK is all about, I have been in the stands as well and I understand the fans. The most important thing is to prevent that pressure from affecting you in a negative way. I don’t let it happen to me. I focus on the positive and I look ahead”.

He is still here despite hardship, bad luck and harsh criticism. According to statistics, he is going through his most mediocre season since 2010-11 when he started establishing himself. But that’s a forward’s life and Stefanos Athanasiadis is one of PAOK’s best forwards ever.

At the age of 28, he can boast being the club’s top scorer in European competition with 20 goals. Last season, he reached the 100-goal milestone, having conjured a total of 106 goals in 288 appearances for PAOK.