This victory is dedicated to George. His teammates, his friends, his brothers, showed strength of spirit and did the least they could to honor the memory of our beloved George Baldock. The Greens, having experienced an unimaginable tragedy, found the strength and managed to beat OFI 1-0 at Th. Vardinogiannis for the 8th matchday of the Stoiximan Super League.

Panathinaikos’ players were emotionally charged in the first game without George by their side. They took to the pitch for warm-ups wearing jerseys with the number 32, shortly afterwards they were photographed holding the jersey he was wearing with the Shamrock, while one minute’s silence was observed before the kick off. Everyone wore black armbands and the captain Tasos Bakasetas, on his own armband had the initials GB 32. Everything reminded us of our George…

Despite the emotional charge, the Panathinaikos’ players entered the field with great determination and only managed to score a goal in the 6th minute. Djuricic passed at the height of the area for Tete, who turned towards the goal and immediately shot the ball into the left corner and into the net of Christogeorgos for 0-1. All the players of the team and those on the bench formed a circle hugging and holding up George’s jersey, dedicating to him the goal…

In the 9th minute, OFI threatened with a shot by Hatzitheodoridis that ended up going wide, while the Greens tried to make a 0-2 in the 21st minute with consecutive shots by Tete inside the area that went against the bodies and in the 24th minute after a nice collaboration. Tete moved forward, passed to Bakasetas, who turned parallel to the rival box, where Jeremejeff was unable to send the ball into the net.

In the last important phase of the first half in the 41st minute, OFI had a threatening shot with Jung, who sent the ball over Dragowski’s crossbar and out. OFI threatened with a long-range shot by Gonzalez in the 56th minute but Dragowski, despite the fact that the ball collided on the body of Djuricic and changed direction dangerously, was on hand, fell into his left corner and cleared the danger.

The Greens responded in the 60′ with a shot by Tete, which was blocked by Lampropoulos and with a header by Arao in the 61′, which ended up narrowly wide. Tete threatened again in the 72nd minute with a smart long-range shot from a lateral position, but Christogeorgos made a difficult save. Panathinaikos’ players kept control of the game until the end, safely reaching the victory and the three points.

Giorgos Nikas made his debut with the Green shirt, replacing Jeremejeff in the 79th minute and played as a center forward.

OFI: Christogeorgos, Gonzalez, Hatzitheodoridis (78′ Abanda), Christopoulos, Lampropoulos, Bainovic (68′ Bakic), Karahalios (89′ Apostolakis), Fountas (68′ Riera), Nuss, Shengelia, Jung (78′ Salcedo).

Panathinaikos: Dragowski, Kotsiras, Ingason, Jedvaj, Mladenovic, Arao (79′ Maksimovic), Cerin, Tete (89′ Mancini), Bakasetas (79′ Ounahi), Djuricic (61′ Pellistri), Jeremejeff (79′ Nikas).