The outcome of the match Panathinaikos vs. Standard de Liege in “Apostolos Nikolaidis” ground for the 4th match day of the 7th group of the competition was disappointing.

The guest team scored three goals in the second half, prevailing 0-3 and became a strong candidate to be qualified for the next round. Panathinaikos failed, this time as well, to achieve its first victory in the group and lost Marcus Berg, due to an injury.

A strong start and … Berg out.

At the beginning of the game there was nothing that could foreshadow the way it ended. The “Shamrock” entered the game strongly and had the first two chances in the very first 10-minutes in a shot by Coulibaly, which passed just out and the “fireball” of Berg which was stopped by the guest team’s keeper.

The discomfort the Swedish captain of our team felt during the warm-up didn’t let him to continue and finally at the 29th minute he was substituted by Leto. The complaints of Berg “hurt” all the offensive efforts of the team, which did not create opportunities till the end of the first half. Standard de Liege balanced the game quickly creating dangerous situations around Panathinaikos’ area (mostly by consecutive corners).

M’Poku’s explosion and the total collapse

The start of Panathinaikos in the second half was explosive thanks to the activity of Paul M’Poku who threatened twice, within two minutes (49′ and 50′), though the “thunderbolt” he performed outside the box was saved by the Belgian goalkeeper and the free kick he shot went on the crossbar.

From that point on, Standard rebalanced the game and was ahead in the score after a terrible shot of Cisse, in the 61st minute, outside the box. This goal served as a strong base for their final victory. As time passed, Panathinaikos started losing steps on the pitch and when Belfodil scored a second goal in the 75th minute and M’Poku was expelled, after getting a second yellow card at the 77th minute, the “Greens” fully collapsed.

A third goal was scored again by the Algerian striker at the end of the additional time. The score 0-3 gave splendour to the victory of the Belgians. On the other hand it was one of the heaviest defeats in Panathinaikos’ European history, only the debut of young player Tasos Chatziyiovannis wearing the green jersey can be noted.

Panathinaikos: Steele, Mesto (77’ Chatziyiovannis), Moledo, Ivanov, Chouchoumis, Coulibaly, Koutroumbis, Lod, M’Poku, Ibarbo (87’ Rinaldi), Berg (30’ Leto).

Standard de Liege: Hubert, Fai, Scholz, Laifis, Elderson, Trebel, Raman (62’ Badibanga), Cisse, Edmilson (46’ Fiore), Belfodil, Orlando Sa.