The team paid heavily for the errors committed in the first game, for the seventh group of Europa League as due to them… Panathinaikos lost 1-2 by Ajax in “Apostolos Nikolaidis” stadium.
In fact, even more than the three points, the “Shamrock” lost for the next match of the competition, against Celta Vigo, the possibility to have Ivan Ivanov and Mubarak Wakaso in the pitch as both were expelled getting a red card…
We must particularly mention Marcus Berg, not only for scoring a goal but also for his 50th appearance in all European competitions, with all the teams he has played for. Also we have to notice that Christopher Samba did his debut in our team against “Ajax”, entering the match as a substitute!
They were better… but committed suicide
Regarding the game, Panathinaikos entered the match with strength, pressing Ajax and was fortunate enough to score just in the 5th minute, thanks to the… usual “suspect”, Marcus Berg. The Swede scored once again against a Dutch team, after a goal in the game Sweden vs Holland, goading to start a celebrationinthe… “flamboyant”Leoforos stadium!
Indeed, until the first 30 minutes the “Greens” were not threatened; on the contrary they had the ball possession on their side and could score, showing they could get to the pause having the score on their favor.
However, in the last 15 minutes, the visitors went up several meters, taking care to “load” on the left side. They took advantage of the first mistake, done by Ivanov and scored to draw 1-1, with Traore.The opponents were close to reverse the score in the last moment of the first half…
Viewers of the same play…
In the second half, Panathinaikos had a much more complicated game as it didn’t only repeat its errors but the task of the “Shamrockers” became even more difficult due to two expulsions suffered…
Even in a… second stage, Ajax took the lead due to a “gift”… offered by Mesto and the penalty over Dijks, which was transformed into a goal not by Klaassen who shot but by Riedewald who got the ball after the save of Steele, upon completion of one hour of game!
The expulsion of Ivanov, two minutes later, after Koutroumbis was substituted, changed the “momentum”, forcing Andrea Stramaccioni to call Samba to play as a second stopper next to Moledo.
Even so, Panathinaikos could have saved, to some extent, one point , if Moledo was a little more cold-blooded during extra time, while Wakaso was the second player to be expelled getting directly a red card.
Panathinaikos: Steele, Mesto, Koutroumbis (68′ Villiafáñes) Moledo, Ivanov, Hult, Ledesma (65′ Leto) Zeka, Lod (73′ Samba) Wakaso, Berg.
Ajax: Onana, Viergever, Sanchez, Veltman, Dijks, Riedewald, Klaassen (90´ Schone) Gutelj, Ziyech, Younes (86′ Sinkgraven), Traoré (72′ Dolberg).
