A second consecutive victory for Panathinaikos, who besides Asteras for the Cup, won by a wide 4-0 the team of Panetolikos for the championship, showing to reassert its rhythm. The match was realized in “Ap. Nicolaidis” stadium for the 20th match day of Super League’s championship.
Maybe the score was like the one for the Cup, but the scenery of the game against the team of Agrinio was totally different. The guests had many footballers backwards and didn’t let any free space, complicating Panathinaikos’ creative game. The “Greens” were in good spirit, circulating the ball and getting close to the box, though unable to create normal chances in order to threaten the goalposts of Kyriakidis, the excellent rival goalie. The best chance of the first half was a shoot by Lopez, which passed slightly out in the 17th minute.
In the 46th minute, Marinos Ouzounidis had already done two substitutions in the team. The first one due to a concussion Reis had and was substituted in the 37th minute and the second one because Klonaridis didn’t even start in the second half due to a discomfort in the biceps. These two players were substituted by Kourbelis and Vlachodimos who helped Panathinaikos to press higher and to circulate much easier and to steal some balls, threatening straightly the opponent’s goalposts. The “Shamrock” increased its offensive activity and thus created chances showing that sooner or later a goal should be scored. This is what happened when Berg concluded the initiative of Villafañes in the 67th minute and opened the score. Vlachodimos stopped the ball in a confrontation with Lopez and from then on all moves were on Panathinaikos’ advantage. Berg doubled the goals of his team and of his own in the 80th minute. From that point the defense of the guest team was losing its coherence committing errors which gave easily the opportunity to the “Greens” to achieve a wider score. The “Shamrock” didn’t lose any chance and Lod scored in the 90th minute by a shoot and Berg in the 92nd minute scored a hat-trick by a header getting to a 4-0, which was the final score. This way Panathinaikos went back to victories, after three draws in a raw and got three important points.
The teams:
Παναθηναϊκός: Vlachodimos Οd., Coulibaly, Koutroumbis, Moledo, Hult, Villafañes, Zeca, Reis (37’ Kourbelis), Mpoku (78’ Lod), Klonaridis (46’ Vlachodimos P.), Berg.
Panetolikos: Kyriakidis, Mygas, Chantakias (66’ Koutroumanos), Koussas, Tsokanis, Msakos, Lopez, Paul, Klesiο (73’ Munioz), Rocha (79’ Papadopoulos), Marcovski.
