The last few performances by the team before this match had caused concern, both from inside and outside the club. Players and technical staff talked, worked, analyzed the situation, and traveled to Piraeus to show that no one should write them off.

Razvan Lucescu gave a starting berth to Mario Tsaousis, with the young lef-back making his full senior debut in a black and white shit. He saw Crespo return to partner Ingason in the center of defense, threw Soares into the battle in the hole behind Colak, while on the wings he started with A. Zivkovic and Mitrita.

PAOK sprang an early surprise with the start the team made, going in front within the first 80 seconds of the match to silence the noisy home crowd. Andrija Zivkovic wung over an excellent cross for the head of Filipe Soares, and he beat Tzolakis in the home goal with a header to make it 1-0.

Olympiacos sough to respond through Rodreguez, who failed to find the target, while Paschalakis had an answer to a free-kick from Kunde.

In the 17th minute, Mitrita looked to have been fouled inside the penalty area, but match referee Evangelou and VAR did not indicate a violation, before A. Zivkovic narrowly failing to hit the target with a good shot in the 20th minute.

Olympiacos then had a spell of good possession and looked for the equalizer, which they found in the 41st minute with a close-range shot by Carvalho following a swift counter attack.

PAOK tried to re-establish their at the end of the first half, but Schwab’s header was wide of the mark.

The pattern of play in the match did not change in the second half. PAOK came out strong, and in the 65th minute Mitrita with a shot on the move after a cross by A. Zivkovic failed to beat Tzolakis.

Lucescu threw on Biseswar, El Kaddouri and Akpom to freshen the attack, but PAOK did not managed to create an further serious danger, with just a Akpom header and Kurtic shot from distance the only opportunities before the final whistle.

At the other end of the pitch, Paschalakis saved well from Manolas and Lopes as the match then ended with the two teams sharing a point apiece.

Now, PAOK face Panathinaikos at the Toumba (17.05, 20:00) for the final league match, with both sides level on points in the race for second place. After that the same two teams will clash again in the Greek Cup final at the OAKA next Saturday (21.05, 20:00).

Team lineups:

Olympiakos: Tzolakis, Androutsos, Bagalanis (46′ Manolas), Papastathopoulos, Reabciuk, Kane, Kunde (71′ M’Vila) – Rodrigues (84′ Valbuena), Carvalho, Fadiga (57′ Lopes).

PAOK: Paschalakis, Sastre (87′ Taylor), Ingason, Crespo, Tsaousis, Schwab, Kurtic, A. Zivkovic, Soares (71′ El Kaddouri), Mitrita (76′ Biseswar), Colak (71′ Akpom).