Aris, with Samora’s header from the 2nd minute, took the lead and finally defeated Panathinaikos at Leoforos in a result that makes the clover’s attempt at the title quite difficult.
Panathinaikos is an ideal winner in the title battle against Aris as they were defeated 1-0 by Thessaloniki and suffered their second straight defeat in the playoffs, three days after the defeat at the OPAP Arena by AEK, with Samora scoring in the 2nd minute with a header , the guests taking the lead in the score and maintaining it until 90+7′ when the game ended.
The shamrocks with this defeat did not take advantage of the fact that AEK lost to PAOK 3-2 in Toumba and would have had the opportunity to reduce the difference from the yellow and black to one point in the battle for the title.
The greens found themselves behind in the score from the… locker room and then, no matter how much they fought, in a correct or unorthodox way, they created phases, threatened Cuesta but failed to score, resulting in loud boos at the end of the match to the players but and Fatih Terim.
The xgoals of the match Panathinaikos – Aris SPORT24/OPTA
The footage of Terim and Manjiu
Fatih Terim, who had several absences, mainly in the stoppers, had changes in his eleven in relation to the defeat against AEK, with Hugo, Mladenovic, Vilena, Verbic returning to the original formation.
Under the goal posts was Dragovski with Kocira starting on the right wing and Mladenovic playing on the left while Hugo-Arao were the stopper duo. Vilena-Cherin played in front of them with Limnios starting on the right wing and Verbitz on the left and Bakaseta behind Ioannidis.
With changes, Aris lined up in Leoforos and Akis Manzios as he kept Moron and Djurasek on the bench while Veleth was also unavailable.
Goal from the locker room by Aris
Aris managed to take the lead early in the match with Samora getting a header past Arao after Manus Garcia’s cross from the right.
Panathinaikos tried to take the reins of the match and reach the equalizer and threatened in the 8th minute with Ugo when, from a corner from the left, the green stopper headed the ball to the far post but Questa cleared the ball away.
Three minutes later the greens changed the ball nicely, it reached Cerin, who made the place from the height of the penalty and sent it just outside the left post of the goalkeeper of Aris.
In the 20th minute, after a new corner from the left, again Ugo got his header at the far post but Brambetz cleared the ball with his foot.
Aris could have scored a second goal in the 21st minute after a mistake by Dragovski. In a deep ball, the goalkeeper of Panathinaikos came out to the right of the area, tried to block it, but it got out of his hands. Zamora took possession, the Pole harassed him with his striker Aris placing but Hugo back and stopping the ball before it hit the net.
In the same minute Limnios came in from the right, turned to Verbic, who from the height of the small area shot over Questa’s goal. The clover continued to have the upper hand in the first 45 minutes but without being able to threaten effectively. While the last moment of the first half was another header by Hugo in the 44th minute which also went wide.
Full attack with good morning in the second part
At the start of the second half, Fatih Terim made two changes. He threw Sporar and Mancini into the match and took out his two wingers, Verbic and Limnio. while he changed the trefoil system to 4-4-2.
Panathinaikos started to threaten even more, stepping into the area of Aris and trying to equalize. In 49′ Sporar took a shot from outside the area, it was weak and Cuesta blocked.
Aris responded with… Samora’s crossbar in the 52nd minute. Manu Garcia lifted the ball for the visitors’ scorer who got one-on-one with a shot that rattled Dragovski’s crossbar.
The shamrocks had their best moment to equalize in the 54th minute when Mladenovic crossed the ball from the left to Sporar who nipped it past Cuesta but sent it just wide of the right post.
With Geremegev, Sporar and… Ioannidis
In the 63′ of the match, Terim threw Geremegev into the match instead of Vilena, with Panathinaikos on the pitch with Geremegev, Sporar and Ioannidis playing together. The first two played as an attacking duo with Ioannidis playing behind them. Something that happened for the first time this year and confused the clover even more.
In the 69th minute, Bakasetas threatened to shoot but Cuesta succeeded and cleared the ball which reached Kotsiras who took the shot but it also went wide.
The next great moment for Panathinaikos came in the 86th minute with Mancini initially taking the shot from the height of the penalty area and Brambetz clearing the ball with his body, while Ioannidis then took the shot with Questa blocking the ball.
The top performances and statistics in Panathinaikos – Aris SPORT24/OPTA
PANATHINAIKOS: Dragovski, Kotsiras, Arao, Ugo (79′ Vaiannidis), Mladenovic, Cerin (79′ Djuricic), Vilena (63′ Geremegev), Bakasetas, Limnios (46′ Mancini), Verbic (46′ Sporar), Ioannidis.
ARIS: Cuesta, Odubajo, Montoya, Fabiano, Brambetz, Gilles (73′ Ducouret), Darinda, Suleimanov (73′ Fetfatzidis), Saverio (58′ Djurasek), Garcia (59′ Rose), Zamora (66′ Moron).