There was a question-mark concerning PAOK’s ability to focus on the Greek Cup semi-final against Asteras Tripolis, only a few days after celebrating their league title.

The Greek champions were able to handle success and put on a demure effort in “Theodoros Kolokotronis” in order to clinch qualification.

PAOK opted to give space to Asteras Tripolis and adopt a counter-attacking game. The encounter got off to a low-key start, with errors by both sides interrupting the early flow of play.

The home side created the first opportunity of note with Kotsiras, who forced a spectacular save out of Alexandros Paschalakis. José Ángel Crespo got close to an opener in the 15th minute, but wasted his shot from an angle.

Five minutes later, PAOK goalkeeper was on call again denying Martínez from point blank. In the 35th minute, Tasoulis wasted a good opportunity to score, just like Léo Jabá did in the 42nd minute.

After the interval, the Arcadia outfit hit the ground running and applied pressure around Paschalakis’s box but to no avail. In the 49th minute, the home side had a goal disallowed.

Răzvan Lucescu introduced Dimitris Pelkas and Sérgio Oliveira into the match in order to revive his midfield. PAOK improved considerably and didn’t allow Paraschos’s players to create more opportunities to score.

PAOK could have won the second leg as well, but both late efforts by Oliveira went wide.

The goalless draw combined with PAOK’s 2-0 win in the first leg secured their passage to the Greek Cup final for a third consecutive season –once again against AEK Athens.

Line-ups:

Asteras Tripolis: Papadopoulos, Vlachos (41’ Douvikas), Martínez, Pasalidis, Τriantafyllopoulos, Munafo, Valiente, Τasoulis (64’ Bellocq), Fernández, Κotsiras, Τsilianidis (74’ Αravidis).

PΑΟΚ: Paschalakis, Matos , Varela, Ingason, Crespo, Shakhov, Mišić (52’ Oliveira), Limnios, Jabá (62’ Pelkas ), Biseswar, Akpom (77’ Świderski).