Aris played beautiful football at times, creating many opportunities for an easy evening against Panserrakikos, but settled for the debut goal of José Sifuentes to leave with a 0-1 victory from the Municipal Stadium of Serres.
Aris left with the precious three points from Serres and reached four points in the Stoiximan Super League. The “yellows” had José Sifuentes as their golden scorer, who with a wonderful shot from outside the box in the 33rd minute secured the final 0-1.
The Thessaloniki team was superior throughout the match and had many chances to extend their lead, but the Panserrakikos goalkeeper, Gugeshashvili, had a great night and did not allow the goal to be breached more than once.
In the next round, Aris will host Asteras Tripolis AKTOR at “Kleanthis Vikelidis”, while the Serres club will travel to Agrinio to play against Panetolikos, in the last round before the national team’s break.
The stats and xGoals of Panserrakikos – Aris
The match
Aris was the one who wanted to impose their rhythm and take control of the ball at the start of the match. This allowed them to come close to scoring on two occasions.
Initially with last season’s top scorer, Loren Moron. The Spaniard had a wonderful instinct. He saw the Panserrakikos goalkeeper off his line and from about 40 meters tried to lob him, with the ball just passing outside the right vertical post of Gugeshashvili’s goal.
Five minutes later, specifically in the 7th minute, the lively Diandy left his opponent, Stavros Petavrakis, behind, finding Manu Garcia in the heart of the box, who lost control for a moment resulting in a poor finish and his shot going to the outside of the nets.
After these two phases, Panserrakikos regained confidence. First with Matías Tomás and then with Hefte Betancour, Michalis Gregoriou’s team had moments to take the lead.
The shot from the Uruguayan attacking midfielder ended up as a corner after a save by Cuesta, with the Aris goalkeeper showing his reflexes, while two minutes later, Betancour failed to lob the Spaniard when he found himself unmarked at the penalty spot after a header pass from Angelos Liasos.
In the next 20 minutes, tough play prevailed and there was a lack of energy and scoring opportunities. All of this until the 31st minute when Montsou attempted to surprise Gugeshashvili with a direct free kick from a wide position, with the Georgian barely managing to clear it.
The slight dominance of the Thessaloniki team turned into a goal in the 34th minute, with José Sifuentes making his debut in the starting lineup and opening his account with the “yellow” jersey.
The Ecuadorian midfielder received the ball outside the box, found the space and time to take a beautiful shot, which found the net of Gugeshashvili.
The Georgian goalkeeper dove to his right but Sifuentes’s execution was masterful and left no room for reaction for the 25-year-old.
The last notable moment before the halftime was again from the visitors, who in two instances failed to breach the host’s goal a second time.
Moron tried his foot from outside the box in the 40th minute, with Garcia unable to take advantage of Gugeshashvili’s unstable save.
In the second half, Panserrakikos started stronger and missed an opportunity with Milos Deletic in the 47th minute, leading up to the 82nd minute for Aris to make their presence felt.
Diandy tried to beat Gugeshashvili, but his shot was neutralized by the Georgian. Since then, the Thessaloniki team bombarded the “lions'” goal without succeeding, neither with Montsou nor with Diandy, in scoring the goal that would double their tally and eliminate any concerns in the dying minutes for a possible equalizer.
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The statistics and key players in the match between Panserrakikos and Aris
Panserrakikos (Gregoriou): Gugeshashvili, Deligiannidis (87′ Koutsogoulas), Handakias, Bergstrom, Petavrakis (77′ Fares), Liasos (65′ Kaptoom), Staikos (65′ Kaptoom), Salazar, Tomás, Deletic (77′ Deletic), Hefte
Aris (Mantzios): Cuesta, Mayo, Brabets, Velet, Frindek, Montsou, Garcia (74′ Darida), Sisto (74′ Saverio), Sifuentes, Diandy, Moron (89′ Samora)