paokfc.gr/First Team/PAOK vs. Larissa: Facts & Figures
PAOK vs. Larissa: Facts & Figures
Ahead of PAOK’s Greek Cup tie against Larissa, paokfc.gr puts you in the picture about the background to the match, as well as a look back at our previous encounters against the Thessaly club in the competition.
- There have been very few meetings between PAOK and Larissa in the Greek Cup, with no more than one meeting per decade so far. Their first meeting was in the 1985 final, when the Thessaly club denied league champions PAOK a domestic double, while they have also met in the 1990-91, 2003-04, and 2016-17 seasons.
- The 2016-17 campaign marked the first time PAOK faced Larissa in a group stage format. The match was a one-legged tie which took place at the Toumba Stadium. The Double-headed Eagle prevailed 2-0 (28′ Mystakidis, 41′ Pereira).
- The paradox is that their first meeting, on June 22, 1985, was in the final, as until then the two clubs had never been paired together in the draw. Larissa prevailed 4-1 in that final at the OAKA and claimed the first title in the club’s history.
- Their next meeting was on March 10, 1991 at the Toumba in the quarter-finals. PAOK prevailed 3-0 (41′ Lagonidis, 78′ Borbokis, 83′ Karageorgiou), laying the foundations for qualification for the next phase. A 2-0 defeat in the second leg in Larissa did not provide much anxiety for the Double-headed Eagle, since the score was just 1-0 through Petkov’s goal (25′) until added time, when Da Silva netted in the closing seconds.
- In the 2003-04 season the two teams met quite early in the first round, which then was a direct knockout and not in a group stage format like it is these days. Larissa claimed a 1-1 draw (10′ Giasemakis – 42′ Tsakmakidis) at an empty Toumba (due to punishment for crowd troubles). But PAOK dominated the second leg, winning 3-0 (14′ Hagan, 41′ Spasic, 86′ Giasemakis) to progress to the second round comfortably.
