Panathinaikos defeated Olympiakos 2-1 in an exciting clash between the top ranked teams of the league. Masuaku (own goal) and Petric scored for the Greens, before Alejandro Dominguez got one back for the reds in the 97′ minute of the game.
PANATHINAIKOS (Anastasiou): Stil, Triantafyllopoulos, Schildenfeld, Tavlaridis, Nano, Lagos (75′ Mendez), Pranic, Zeka, Karelis (61′ Ajagun), Petric, Berg
OLYMPIAKOS (Περέιρα): Roberto, Omar, Santana, Siovas, Mazuaku, Maniatis, Milivojevic, Dosevi (75′ Dominguez), Durmaz (85′ Afellay), Fortounis (65 Jara), Mitroglou
After three years of hibernation because of implemented austerity measures to clear their debts, Panathinaikos is once again a strong contestant to win the championship. Just three points behind the reigning Champions and with a team capable of sustaining their form, the Greens seem capable of lifting their first trophy in 4 years and third one in the last 18 seasons.
Knowing that their opponents had lost their last two important games against AEK Athens for the Greek Cup and Dnipro for the Europa League, gave the Athenian club an extra push to beat the Reds and sink them deeper into a state of criticism and misery.
However, the first half of the game went by unnoticed. The main reason were the barbaric and brutal incidents taking place inside and out of the field by the brainless hooligans that almost blew the game in the air. In an attempt to “calm” the fans down, Olympiakos coach Vitor Pereira signaled towards them to quiet down, a gesture that enraged them even more, cut open the safety fence and run after him.
It took a while for the players to get over the harsh conditions which resulted in a flavorless first half. But from the second half’s get-go the Greens dominated the field and lucked out by taking the lead after a childish mistake made by Olympiakos MVP of the season so far, Arthur Masuaku. The left-back tried to clear out a Pranijc cross in the box, but instead kicked it in the net (1-0).
More chances succeeded the goal but none hit the target till a messy clearance from Milivojevic gave way to Milan Petric to fire the ball in the lower right corner of Roberto and double his team’s lead (2-0).
That goal locked the victory as Olympiakos looked unable and uninterested in changing the scoreboard, until Alejandro Rodriguez scored a wonderful bomber from outside the box in the dying moments of the game and close the gap to just one goal (2-1).
The Greens are now 3 points behind Olympiakos in the Championship race and 2 above PAOK Thessaloniki whom they will face net week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS2G_hJfma0
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