In the first 45 minutes, the Dikefalos tou Vorra controlled the rhythm of the match and went about trying to hit the home side on the counter attack. In the second half, PAOK attemped to handle Olympiacos’ anticipated response. We fell a goal behind, but that didn’t stop PAOK from going forward and there was a great chance for Fernando Varela. After that, PAOK were then betrayed by a mistake by the referee which ended the match as a contest.

Abel Ferreira started the match with a 4-3-3 system, giving youngster Christos Tziolus a place in the starting lineup in a team which featured a midfield three of Mauricio, Anderson Esiti and Omar El Kaddouri. PAOK began brightly, showing patience and confidence, not not allowing their opponents to create any clear scoring chances while on 30 minutes missing an excellent chance when Dimitris Limnios fired over the crossbar from a great position.

The home side responded with a chance from Giorgos Masouras, who failed to hit the target from inside the penalty area. On 39 minute Andreas Bouchalakis, who was already on a yellow card, fouled El Kaddouri with a tough challenge, but he was not sent to the dressing rooms. After that, Alexandros Paschalakis made a good save to deny Mady Camara as the first half ended goalless.

The second half began with Olympiacos applying more pressure, but PAOK defended well. Paschalakis saved a header from Youssef El Arabi, while moments later Mauricio was narrowly off target with a direct free-kick. In the 56th minute Ruben Semedo committed a criminal foul on Limnios, but was not even shown a yellow card.

In the 65th minute, Olympiacos opened the scoring with a header from Masouras, after Ingi Ingason failed to clear the ball which came cross the box from the right flank into the path of the Olympiacos forward.

Despite that setback, the Dikefalos tou Vorra reacted well, putting sustained pressure on the home goal searching for an equalizing goal that would put them back in command of the tie. In the 83rd minute Varela missed a glorious opportunity to level the match, but his header from inside the six-yard box was too close to Jose Sa who managed to save it.

Then came the controversial moment of the game in the 87th minute. PAOK had possession of the ball and Kostas Fortounis was off the pitch due to injury in the previous phase of play. The match referee Björn Kuipers gave the order for Fortounis to enter the pitch the same time that the ball was being put back into play. The Olympiacos player ran onto the pitch, following a push from the Papapetrou, the fourth official, and stole possession from behind Dimitris Giannoulis. He then played in Camara, who fired the ball home to make it 2-0 and end the game as a contest at that point.

The Dikefalos tou Vorra gave everything they had on the pitch against their opponents and everything else, but the cup holders did not manage to secure a place in the final for the fourth year in a row.

Team lineups:

Olympiacos: Sa, Omar, Semedo, Ba, Tsimikas, Guilherme, Bouchalakis (41′ Fortounis), Camara, Masouras (79′ Cafu), Lovera (46′ Randjelovic), El Arabi (88′ Hassan).

PAOK: Paschalakis, Matos (74′ Biseswar), Ingason, Varela, Giannoulis, Esiti (74′ Stoch),  Mauricio, El Kaddouri, Tziolis (63′ Rodrigo), Limnios (63′ Lamprou), Akpom (63′ Swiderski).