Panathinaikos celebrated in Thessaloniki a victory against Aris which is to result rather crucial for the end of the season. The Greens, thanks to a goal scored by Kambetsis, in the 10th minute left Thessaloniki gaining a three pointer against one of the hardest teams of this season’s championship and a direct rival to the efforts to get into next season’s European competitions.

Experiencing very low temperatures, Panathinaikos was aligned against Aris Thessaloniki with important absences again, counting also with players who have missed several training sessions and thus were not absolutely ready to compete. Nonetheless, all players who entered the pitch responded to the demanding and difficult game, helping to achieve the third consecutive victory in 2021.

The match started in an ideal way for the Shamrock as just in the 10th minute Kambetsis, after a foul executed by Juankar and an assist of Velez, sent the ball into the rival nets. Aris tried to react but the very efficient defense of the Greens didn’t allow many dangerous plays; a shoot to the post by Manccini, in the 37th minute, was maybe the sole exception.

In the second half the hosts pressed very much their Green rivals and tried to score the equalizer. Whenever they tried to threat, though, they found in front of them an excellent goalkeeper, Sokratis Dioudis, who didn’t let them score. It is important to note that the Greek goalie is keeping his goalposts intact for a fourth consecutive game, as the last goal let in was at the derby against PAOK, in the past 2020.

From their part, Lazlo Boloni’s footballers had their good chances to “seal’ the victory, but neither Emmanouilidis nor Velez were able to score a second goal for Panathinaikos. The score 0-1 remained till the last whistle of referee Sidiropoulos. The Greens are now closing the gap, being five points under Aris in the scoreboard and look toward the future with much more optimism.

Aris: Siabanis, Sutgren (80’ Sakic), Ιoannou (80’ Ganea), Benalouan, Rose, Μatilla, Jego (55’ Lucas Sasa), Μanccini (68’ Silva), Μateo Garcia, Bruno Gama, Lopez (46’ Μanos).

Panathinaikos: Dioudis, Juankar, Pouggouras, Schenkenveld, Μollo, Velez, Μauricio (80’ Chatzitheodoridis), Αlexandropoulos, Εmmanouilidis (74’ Chatziyiovannis), Ιoannidis (79’ Carlitos), Κambetsis.