The premiere of the new championship was not the one Panathinaikos, Dani Poyatos and his players were expecting. They lost 1-0 in Tripolis by the local team of Asteras, worrying with their performance, mainly in the second half. The hosts performed better in the match and have threatened the “Greens” at least twice, before even completing the first quarter of an hour.
From that very moment and till the end of the first period Panathinaikos’ footballers increased their performance by pressing their rivals, controlling the rhythm of the game and creating good chances for scoring. Nonetheless, they weren’t able to take advantage of that, either due to bad luck or because Papadopoulos saved his team with impressive interventions.
The most outstanding moments were the direct foul executed by Carlitos in the 26th minute, as the ball was stopped on the goalposts of Asteras, the lost chances by Xavier and the Spanish striker again, three minutes later.
Starting the second half and precisely in the 48th minute, referee Sidiropoulos, although he consulted the VAR, didn’t order a penalty kick further to an irregular tackling of Kotsiras on Carlitos done into Asteras’ box.
On the other hand, it was very difficult for the “Greens” to find space and press during the second half. Realizing a counter attack, in the 73rd minute, Asteras had the opportunity to score with Riera. His goal would be the unique of the game and the winning one.
Concerning the image in the second half it was obvious that the guests couldn’t create, in essence, even one “clear” chance before Asteras’ goalposts. Thus, the result 1-0 remained till the last whistle of the referee. Actually, the hosts were the ones who in two counterattacks came closer to score a second goal.
Asteras Τripolis: Papadopoulos, Kotsiras, Alvarez (72’ Tasoulis), Suarez, Pasalidis, Munafo (72’ Borja Fernandez), Belok (56’ Valiente), Riera, Ali Baba (56’ Tilica), Crespi (92΄ Ruben Garcia), Barales.
Panathinaikos: Dioudis, Mavromatis (85’ Ζagaritis), Sanchez, Pougouras, Velez, Κourbelis (70’ Αlexandropoulos), Αyoub, Serpezis (60’ Bouzoukis), Xavier (71’ Chatziyiovannis), Carlitos, Macheda.
