PAOK started the match dynamically, threatening twice through Douglas Augusto. The Brazilian narrowly fired over Tsintotas’ crossbar in the second minute, while he also saw the AEK keeper make a good save to deny him on six minutes.

The Double-headed Eagle were in complete control of the match, exposing the ​​AEK defence, but then everything changed in the 17th minute. A lunge by Tsingaras on Araujo at first prompted match referee Fabri to show the PAOK midfielder a yellow card, but following a VAR check he changed his decision, sending off Tsingaras – a move which prompted a storm of protests from the PAOK dugout.

With the numerical and psychological advantage, AEK pushed forward, and after firing wide in the 24th minute, Levi Garcia made no mistake four minutes later, leaping to head home a cross by Mandalos from the right.

PAOK kept their concentration, however, and tried to react. In the 36th minute, Ognjen Vranjes fouled Chuba Akpom on the edge of the penalty area and Jasmin Kurtic scored with a free-kick which went through the AEK defensive wall and in th back of the net off Tsintotas who failed to save it to make the score 1-1.

The hosts tried to respond immediately, but Alexandros Paschalakis made an incredible save from Mandalos’ header, and the teams went into the dressing rooms at half-time at 1-1.

In the second half, PAOK defended well, not allowing AEK to create many goalscoring opportunities, and forcing the home team to constantly try and send long balls into the box, which the visiting defenders and Paschalakis had no problems dealing with and minimizing the risks.

At the other end, PAOK tried to hit the hosts on the break and almost grabbed a goal on two occasions. Firstly in the 82nd minute, Akpom had the chance to shoot unguarded after a pass from substitute El Kaddouri, but the Englishman’s finish was tame and his shot trickled comfortably into Tsintotas’ arms. And then in the 90th minute, PAOK’s English forward surged into the penalty area, and Vranjes seemed to foul him, but the referee waved play on and the game ended 1-1 with neither side able to score a winning goal.

The Double-headed Eagle are now focusing on the final match of the regular season of this year’s Super League Interwetten at Lamia on Sunday (06.03, 19:00).

Team lineups:

AEK (Ofridopoulos): Tsintotas, Rota (74′ Michelin), Vranjes, Tzavellas, Mohammadi, Simoes, Szymanski (56′ Shakhov), Garcia (56′ Amrabat), Mandalos (82′ Ansarifard), Zuber, Araujo.

PAOK (Lutsescu): Paschalakis, Lyratzis (85′ Sastre), Ingason, Crespo, Vieirinha (85′ Sidcley), Tsingaras, Kurtic (74′ Schwab), Jaba (85′ Murg), Augusto (66′ El Kaddouri), Biseswar, Akpom.