The erroneous attitude that the players of Panathinaikos had, along with their mistakes in defense and their insufficiency to create opportunities, drove the team to a defeat by Omonia Nicosia 3-0, in “GSP” Stadium.
Andrea Stramaccioni decided to leave in Athens some of his “key” players, in order to give playing time to other ones who didn´t play so much; of course this is not an excuse. The Cypriot opponents played much faster, especially at the beginning of the first half.
During that half they led and in the 24th minute Cleyton, Christofi, Agayief and Derbyshire collaborated nicely giving the opportunity to the latter to score against Kotsolis. The “Shamrock” tried to score the equalizer, but neither Boumale, in the 25th minute, nor Leto in front of the rival’s goalposts, in the 29th minute, did it…
In the second half, Panathinaikos changed his system from 4-2-3-1 to 4-4-2 in a diamond shape. Though, once again the hosting team scored one more goal in the 57th minute, when Christofi assisted Agayief, who scored 2-0.
In the 64th minute, Ibarbo came face to face with Panayi but could not overpass him. Then many players were substituted from the part of “Greens” and the system was changed to4-3-3. In the 79th minute, though, Sheridan came very close to the goalpost and by outstretching his leg scored a third goal, which determined the final score of the game 3-0.
A special reference has to be made to the presence of Panathinaikos – Cypriot fans, present in the stadium, who showed their passionate presence, singing incessantly!It was also Rinaldi´s debut wearing the jersey of our team, in a friendly game though. The Argentinean striker has played for 24 minutes as a substitute.
Omonia: Panayi (75′ Kotsaris) Demetriou (58′ Florescu) Nascimento (88′ Konomis) Panteliadis, Margaça (58′ Carlitos), Toure, Fylaktou, Agayief, Cleyton (58′ Orsulic) Christofi (58′ Sheridan ) Derbyshire (81′ Francescu).
Panathinaikos: Kotsolis (46′ Vlachodimos O.), Mesto (68′ Marinakis), Reis (68′ Evangelou), Ivanov (46′ Wakaso) Nano, Koutroumbis, Ledesma (68′ Staikos), Lod, Villiafañes(68′ Vlachodimos ) Boumale (46′ Ibarbo), Leto (68′ Rinaldi).
