It ends goalless in Charilaou
In a match rich in intensity and passion, but poor in terms of scoring opporttunities, Aris and PAOK shared the spoils of a 0-0 draw at the Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium on Matchday 24 of the 2021-22 Super League Interwetten.
According to Razvan Lucescu after the finale whistle, the two teams lined up with very different orientations. On the one hand, PAOK kept the ball, had a good passing game going, and started to build attacks with patience, with Aris being limited largely to a passive role and looking to hit on the break.
The hosts, however, were the first to threaten with Paschalakis saving from Kamaras, with Ndiaye seeing his shot on the rebound cleared off the line by Michailidis.
PAOK responded in the 13th minute via Akpom who found himself in a good position but did not find the target. Throughout the rest of the half, the only moments of note in front of goal were a shot by Garcia that Paschalakis saved impressively and a long shot by Vieirinha that was narrowly off target.
In the seconf half, PAOK threatened first with a shot by Biseswar in the 56th minute, but then Aris threatened in the 65th minute with a header by Sasha, who failed to hit the target, sending his effort wide.
In the final part of the match, and despite the fact that it came into this match on the back of a demanding European away game, PAOK penned Aris back in their own half and looked for a winning goal with A. Zivkovic going close, only to be denied by Cuesta’s save. Colak and El Kaddouri, both coming on as second half substitutes, combined well in hte closing stages but neither of them could find the net. That was the last of goal attempts as the match petered out and ended in a goalless stalemate.
PAOK must now put domestic matters to one side and start preparing for the second leg of their UEFA Europa Conference League Play Offs tie with Midtjylland at the Toumba which will decide who goes through to the Round of 16 of the competition.
Team lineups:
Aris (Terzis): Cuesta, Sakic, Fabiano, Brabec, Ganea, Matilla, Sasha, Mancini (Manos 85), Ndiaye (63′ Bertoglio), Garcia (63′ Iturbe), Kamara.
PAOK (Lucescu): Paschalakis, Sastre, Ingason, Michailidis, Vieirinha (76′ Sidcley), Tsingaras (81′ Kurtic), Soares (65′ Augusto), Biseswar, Jaba (65′ El Kaddouri), A.Zivkovic, Akpom (75′ Tsolak).
