In an afternoon marked by the warm support of the fans, who filled the stadium of “Leoforos” showing their great devotion to the team, Panathinaikos scored two quick goals and prevailed over PAS Yiannina by a 2-0 score, in a game held in “Ap. Nikolaidis” stadium for the 6th match day of the Super League Greece championship.
This was a game with many peculiarities as the ambience around the team, the developments in the administrative part and the situation in the sporting field that proceed were creating a scenery of a general uncertainty. The kick off confirmed this image as the visitors showed to follow better the rhythm of the game, as Panathinaikos was having difficulties to find its steps, playing once more with a different lineup. All the above changed drastically within 3 minutes, as in the 11th minute Michail “opened” the score (1-0) by an own goal after a close header by Hiljemark. Two minutes later, Molins, by an excellent straight shoot, executing a foul, sent the ball into Velidis’ goalposts, scoring the second goal for his team. These “magic” three minutes changed totally the flow of the duel, creating a situation which PAS could never overcome. The rest of the first half had no special shots or chances in front of the two posts and two large shoots by Chalkiadakis were the best moves of the visiting team.
The second part started without changes in the initial lineups and the image of the match showed that Panathinaikos would not be easily threatened. The “breeze” blown by these two goals and the entrance of Lod in the pitch together with the outstanding atmosphere in the tribunes improved the image of the “Shamrock”. The “Greens” created some chances mainly from the wings, having no problems in the defensive line. The result, though, didn’t change till the end. The players reciprocated the warm applause of the fans who thanks to their beats and their passion brought back good memories from the past.
This way Panathinaikos “enters” the pause of the championship having taken, only from the competitions point of view, a very important and indispensible deep breath.
Lineups:
Panathinaikos:Vlachodimos, Moledo, Kolovetsios, Hult, Coulibaly, Sylla, Hiljemark (77′ Donis), Kourbelis, Altman (61′ Lod), Villafañez (68′ Mounier), Molins
PAS:Velidis, Boukouvalas, Michail, Yiakos, Tzimopoulos, Chalkiadakis, Karanikas (65′ Nadales), Garoufalias, Kozoronis (56′ Konte), Manthatis (59′ Soltani), Mavropanos
