Advantage PAOK
A solid, focused and well-prepared PAOK side, spurred on by a passionate Toumba crowd defeated Panathinaikos 2-0 in Thessaloniki to put themselves in the driving seat in their Greek Cup quarter-final tie ahead of the second leg at the “Apostolos Nikolaidis”.
Razvan Lucescu opted to make two changes compared to the lineup in the game against OFI, with Brandon and Dantas taking the places of Oliveira and Schwab respectively.
PAOK started with plenty of momentum, and tried to be threatening from the kick-off, but the visitors responded and it was they who were first to miss a good scoring chance, with Čerin firing a first time shot onto the PAOK crossbar in the 21st minute.
The Double-headed Eagle players then managed to react, regaining control of the game and having some good chances in front of goal, although the score remained 0-0 at half-time.
In the second half, however, everything changed. The Toumba crowd gave the team the necessary boost, Lucescu’s players looked in more determined mood and came out full of passion and energy. After A.Zivkovic and Konstantelias comebined well before the Serb was denied by Lodygin in the 52nd minute. But, within seven minutes PAOK were ahead.
PAOK pressed high up the pitch, and Vagiannidis made a mistake with a poor backpass, and that allowed Brandon to steal the ball and race clear. And the Spaniard made no mistake when one-on-one with the ‘keeper with a flawless side-footed finish to make it 1-0 and set the Toumba… on fire.
With the psychological advantage of the goal, PAOK pressed forward more and looked for a second goal. Lucescu threw Taison and Oliveira into the fray and it was those two who combined to make it 2-0 to the rampant hosts.
In the 72nd minute, the Portuguese produced an excellent assist for the Brazilian, and he found the back of the net with a clinical finish, just three minutes after coming on in a dream debut.
Panathinaikos then went on the attack to try and find a goal that would put them back in the game, but PAOK managed to control proceedings and hold firm, not allowing the visitors a route towards Kotarski’s goal.
PAOK then, earned a significant qualification lead and both teams will renew hostilities in the league this Sunday at «Leoforos», in the second of the trilogy of successive games that these two opponents play in a row against each other.
Team lineups:
PAOK: Kotarski, Sastre, Rafa Soares (78′ Vieirinha), Ingason, Koulierakis, Augusto (69′ Schwab), Dantas, A.Zivkovic, Narey (69′ Taison), Konstantelias (84′ Biseswar), Brandon (69′ Oliveira).
Panathinaikos (I. Jovanovic): Lodygin, Vagiannidis, Huancar, Schenkefeld, Pougouras, Ruben Perez, Kourbelis (46′ Tsokai), Cerin, Palacios (82′ Kampetsis), Bernard (46′ Verbic), Ioannidis (71′ Puchacz).
