The atmosphere inside the Toumba Stadium was heavy and emotionalyl charged. Just a few hours after the funerals of the seven supporters who lost their lives, the stadium reopened its gates for a match that was different from the start. PAOK fans, the two teams, the referees and everyone in the stands wanted, each in their own way, to bid farewell to those young eaglets.

Wreaths, flowers, banners and flares formed the backdrop for a silent “goodbye” to the seven fans, who would now be cheering them on from up in the clouds. In the 27th minute of the match, everything stopped. The Toumba Stadium caught ‘fire’ and the chant “Brothers you live on, you lead us” shook the atmosphere.

The match itself took a back seat. PAOK came out strong and opened the scoring after just five minutes, when Jeremejeff headed in a cross from Despodov , making it 1-0. Three minutes later, the roles were reversed, with the Bulgarian scoring on the volley after a cross from the Swede.

Panserraikos reduced the deficit in 12 minutes with a direct free-kick from Feltes, but PAOK responded immediately. In the 19th minute, Pelkas scored an impressive goal with a curled shot, after a headed pass from Jeremejeff, while in the 26th minute he executed a free-kick and found Vogliacco , who made it 4-1.

From that point on, the pace dropped, the coaches started making chnages, big chances were limited, and the score remained unchanged until the final whistle.

Team lineups:

PAOK: Pavlenka, Sastre, Vogliacco, Lovren, Taylor, Kamara, Zafeiris (78′ Bianco), Despodov, Pelkas (66′ Mythou), Konstantelias (45′ Hatsidis), Jeremejeff (78′ Taison)

Panserraikos: Tsombanidis, Georgiadis (87′ Tolios), Gelashvili, Feltes, De Marco, Armugom, Liassos, Doiranlis (66′ Ben Salam), Riera (76′ Bilet), Teixeira, Karelis (46′ Maskanakis).