Aris celebrated its qualification to the final of the Betsson Greek Cup, after 14 years, where Panathinaikos awaits. The 0-0 draw with Panaitolikos was enough for the yellows, as they won 1-0 in Agrinio.
Aris qualified for the final of the Betsson Greek Cup, where Panathinaikos awaits. Thessaloniki drew 0-0 with Panaitolikos and, combined with their 1-0 win at Agrinio, secured the ticket.
Aris had a greater number of finals, as well as the initiative of the movements, Panaitolikos was a fighter and until the last moment fought for his own miracles, without succeeding.
The score did not exist until the final and Aris celebrated the qualification to the final of the Cup after 14 years and a party was set up at Kleanthis Vikelidis. In fact, this is the 10th final in the history of the yellows, where he will claim the second trophy, the first since 1970.
The match
Aris came on strong in the first part. Initially, he threatened with Suleimanov in the 2nd minute, while then Brambetz’s header, following a corner kick, went wide. Five minutes later, the yellows made their presence felt again. Darida made the cross from the right to the heart of the area, the Panaitolikos defense did not push away, Suleimanov controlled, executed from inside the area, but did not find the target.
Aris had the initiative of the movements, with Panaitolikos trying to look dangerous on the counter-attack. So in the 12th minute, Perez filled the area from the left, Karelis found the ball in the area under pressure, but it went wide.
The hosts moved around, trying to break the defense of Panaitolikos, who were quite careful at the back, although in the 20th minute they had a header from Karelis. In the 38th minute Odubajo made a parallel pass from the right to Samora, who found it with his nose and won the corner.
The first part ended with a good moment for Aris. Suleimanov took the shot from outside the area, Chavez fell and kicked it for a corner in impressive fashion.
The picture did not change in the first minutes of the second half. Aris was moving around looking for corridors, Panaitolikos was looking for his moment in the counterattack. The phases were admittedly fewer, with the visitors creating a dangerous moment in front of Cuesta’s goal in the 64th minute. A minute later, Veleth’s header, following a corner kick, went wide.
In the 71st minute, Panaitolikos tried to become a threat again, with Huanpi making the shot outside the area and the ball going wide. Agriniotes equalized in the 86th minute. After a corner, Bruno Duarte took the header, the ball went just wide of Cuesta’s goal.
Aris had the chance to score the goal at 90+4′. Darida found himself in front of the Panaitolikos keeper, but under pressure from Tsingaras he did not beat him, Ansarifard then shot over the bodies. The 0-0 did not change, but the yellows celebrated the return to the final after 14 years.
- ARIS: Cuesta, Odubajo, Ferrari (90′ Embudo), Brambetz, Fabiano, Veleth (90′ Rose), Darida, Manu Garcia, Suleimanov (79′ Saverio), Zamora, Moron (79′ Ansarifard).
- Panaitaliko: Chavez, Mladen (80′ Lomonaco), Br. Duarte, Tabitze, Maurias, Fr. Duarte (81′ Juanpi), Perez (80′ Tsingaras), Hatzitheodoridis, Torrejon, Sengelia (72′ Dias), Karelis (61′ Silva)
The schedule and results of the semi-finals
FIRST GAMES
- Panaitolikos – Aris 0-1 (64′ Veleth)
- PAOK – Panathinaikos 0-1 (53′ Sporar)
SECOND MATCHES
- Panathinaikos – PAOK 1-2 (120+9′ Limnios / 72′ Zivkovic, 105′ Kenziora) pen. 6-5
- Aris – Panaitolikos 0-0
Final
Saturday 18/05
- Panathinaikos – Aris