PAOK held to draw by Asteras at the Toumba
In a game where everything went wrong, PAOK stood their ground, fought until the last minutes and managed to avoid defeat against Asteras Tripolis, despite being two goals behind and seeing three of their players limp off due to injury.
The first half of the match could have been scripted by the team’s worst enemy. PAOK controlled possession for the most part of the first 45 minutes, but it was difficult for the hosts to creatre chances on Papadopoulos‘ goal.
The unpleasantness started in the 23rd minute with Tsaousis leaving the pitch in tears with a problem with his right knee. Misfortune continued to strike the home side with Lyratzis also leaving with an injury problem and giving up his place to A.Zivkovic.
And as if all this wasn’t enough, Stanko made it 1-0 to the visitors in the second minute of added time at the end of the first half with a header on the rebound after Pichu’s initial effort came back of the crossbar.
The second half started as badly as the first ended. Initially Razvan Lucescu was forced to make another change with Biseswar replacing Omar El Kaddouri. Then, in the 54th minute, Andrija Zivkovic put in a challenge on Regis in the penalty area. And while match referee Koumbarakis signaled for play to continue, the VAR official asked him to review the phase of play and he changed his decision. Sito then stepped up to score from the penalty spot to double the visitors’ advantage.
And then when everything seemed lost, PAOK found a response. They penned Asteras back in their own half and began peppering the goal with shots. Initially, Narey and Dantas both missed the chance to score during an important double opportunity, while in the 80th minute, PAOK got themselves back into the game with Koumbarakis after a VAR review saw him award a penalty for Gardafski’s challenge on Konstantelias. Kurtic stepped up to score from 12 yards to reduce the deficit at 2-1.
The Double-headed Eagle then pushed on boosted by that strike, and with the crowd on their side they found an equaliser in the last phase of the match. Narey’s corner was flicked on by Kurtić, and Oliveira turned the ball home from close range to make it 2-2.
Team lineups:
PAOK: Kotarski, Lyratzis (39′ A.Zivkovic), Ingason, Koulierakis, Tsaousis (32′ Sastre), Dantas (67′ Schwab), Kurtic, Augusto (67′ Konstantelias), Narey, El Kaddouri (46′ Biseswar), Oliveira.
Asteras Tripoli: Papadopoulos, Atienza Pichu, Djukanovic, Gardafski, Tassoulis, Munafo, Stanko, Tilica (89′ Kosteas), Sito, Bartolo (82′ Benito), Crespi (72′ Iglesias).
