Thanks to a goal by Fran Veleth in the 64th minute, Aris won 1-0 against Agrinio, overcoming the resistance of Panaitolikos, in the first match between the two teams for the semi-finals of the Cup.
Both teams had chances for more goals, but it was the one of the Spanish central defender that made the difference, making the “yellow and black” favorites to qualify for the final.
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The first half can be… divided into three different periods. After the first, identifying quarter, the hosts raised his performance vertically. Levan Sengelia’s shot (15′) was wide of the mark, with Pedro Silva Torrejon (17′) then wasting a great double chance – Julian Cuesta made a superb double save on the Spanish-Argentine midfielder’s initial header and the subsequent shot.
Panaitoliko’s dominance ended with two powerful shots by Huanpi (21′, 27′) but they did not really worry Questa. The last quarter of the first part belonged entirely to the Thessalonians. Initially, after a corner by Manu Garcia and a turn by Shapi Suleimanov, the unmarked Jakub Brambetz (31′) sent the ball over the crossbar of Lucas Chavez. A little later, the Spanish midfielder of Aris played an excellent one-two with Quique Saverio (40′), however the home goalkeeper stopped the 24-year-old winger from Ecuador with his body.
The second 45 minutes started at a better pace. Brambetz’s header (48′) was too weak to threaten Chavez, with the Argentinian keeper punching away Suleymanov’s powerful shot (50′). On the opposite side, Questa was in position to block the strong, one-piece shot of Ilias Hadjitheodoridis (53′) and that of Joao Pedro (61′) who made an excellent individual effort.
Finally, three minutes later, Aris opened the scoring. Manu García, from the left, found Velez with a terrific pass who ran unguarded from the opposite side and with a nailed header he left no room for Chávez.
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Yannis Petrakis played… full attack with his changes, in the hope that his team will find the equalizing goal. On the other hand, Akis Manzios shielded the rear wanting to keep the score in favor of his team.
Nothing changed until the finale, apart from the straight red card that Haris Mavrias saw for “demolishing” the forward Alvaros Zamora – a decision that Aristotelis Diamantopoulos eventually changed to a yellow card after the VAR signaled. Aris kept the 1-0 in the packed stadium of Panaitolikos and gained an important qualifying lead ahead of the rematch at “Cleanthis Vikelidis” on March 6 (19:00).
Referee: Aristotelis Diamantopoulos (Arkadias)
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Yellow ones: Malis, Sengelia, Tsingaras, Karelis, Mavrias, Fr. Duarte – Verstrate.
The compositions:
PANAETOLIKOS (Yiannis Petrakis): Chaves, Malis, B. Duarte, Stagic (83′ Mavrias), Liavas, Huanpi (77′ Perez), Tsingaras, Hatzitheodoridis (71′ Fr. Duarte), Torrejon, Sengelia (71′ Lomonaco), Pedro (77′ Karelis).
MARS (Akis Manzios): Cuesta, Montoya, Veleth, Brambetz, Odubajo, Verstrate (90′ Doucouret), Darida (90′ Fetfatzidis), Manu Garcia (70′ Rose), Suleimanov, Saverio (54′ Zamora), Moron (90′ Ansarifard).
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