Panathinaikos overcame the first hurdle of the new year in Livadia (0:1), but AEK, which failed in Ioannina, also lost to PAS 2:1. Thus, contrary to the portrayal of the two teams, after consecutive points losses by Panathinaikos, they go to a derby between themselves on Sunday at Agia Sophia with a difference of +7 for the Greens.

The union suffered in Ioannina with PAS paying the price for big missed opportunities (Araujo 17, Levia Garcia 26, Sidibe 26) and Almeida’s decision to use players (Fernandes, Vida) without rhythm. The hosts took advantage of the gaps in the defense of the “yellow-blacks” and in the 9th minute with “Rienstroy” they were ahead in the score, and after AEK did not “react” to the phases presented to them, they doubled their goals with Balan’s header in the 32nd minute . Despite the fact that in the second half (52′) Araujo quickly reduced the score to 2:1, Almeida’s team failed to level the score.

PASH JANINA: Tsinthotas, Soria, Pelios, Pantelakis, Eramuspe, Karachalios, Rienstra (Liassos, 68), Gino, Moreira (Stamelopoulos, 89), Pamlidis (Tzimas, 79), Balan.

AEK: Athanasiadis, Sidibé, Vida, Mukoudi, Hadjisafi, Johnson, Fernandes (Van Wert 65), Pineda (Zuber 73), Amrabad, Garcia, Araujo.

Panathinaikos… shed tears without the “bloody” in Livadia and returned to victory with a tense 1-0 score, which allowed them to approach the Sunday derby with AEK more calmly. The Greens were very tight and put in perhaps their worst game since the start of the season, but avoided the worst thanks to a goal from Verbić in the 35th minute, their first phase of the match. They didn’t finish the game with four misses by Palacios at 45’+3′, a right post by Sporar at 45’+4′, plus another big shot by Palacios at 55′, and they were playing with fire when, after Huancar’s tragic mistake, Brignoli interfered into the match at close range by Vrakas in the 65th minute. On his debut, Poits scored with a beautiful strike in the 82nd minute, but the goal was disallowed due to VAR for a foul by Ioannidis early in the phase. The match was overshadowed by the unjustified and dangerous use of chemicals by the police before the shelter and at half-time, which caused a lot of breakdowns, fainting and delays, especially at the beginning of the second half!

LEVADEIAKOS: Stojanovic, Konstantinidis, Tsapras, Bachanac, Vichos, Hammond (Mejia 65), Simelidis, Toro (Lua Lua 76), Nikas (Vrakas 46), Dumtsios (Tsirigotis 76), Moutinho.

PANATHINAIKOS: Brignoli, Huancar (Puchats, 80), Senckefeld, Magnuson, Kotsiras (Vagiannidis, 80), Tserin, Kourbelis, Bernard, Palacios, Verbich (Tsokai, 69), Sporar (Ioannidis, 80).

Olympiacos finds rhythm and gets closer

Two beautiful goals in just six minutes were enough for Olympiacos to take their first victory in 2023. The Red-Whites beat the Ionians 2-0 in Naples and reduced the gap to second-placed AEK to just three points.

On Mitchell’s team, Costas Fortunis was the star of yet another match. On a positive note for the winners, Rodinej is present, with the Brazilian showing that he is the defender Olympiacos has been looking for for a long time. The Red-Whites dominated the bottom of the Ionian standings from the very first minutes and finally managed to break through the defensive wall of the hosts in the 34th minute with Bakabo’s shot from the center of the penalty area. In the 40th minute, it was Fortounis’s turn to get into the net: the Greek midfielder beat Khutesiotis with a stunning shot from outside the box.

IONIKOS: Utesiotis, Fatigas (Kanias, 81), Souza, Valerianos, Rubulakou (Ioannidis, 81), Tsirigotis, Tsigrinski, Lovera (Eleftheriadis, 65), Sakits, Aosman (Cabral, 65), Massas (Mansis, 51).

OLYMPIACOS: Paschalakis, Rodinei, Papastathopoulos, Doi, Reampchuk, Embila, Huang (Samasekou 84), Fortounis (Masouras 66), Biel (G. Rodriguez 74), James (Buchalakis 84), Bakabou (El- Arabi, 73)).

Earlier, in the match that opened the curtain of the 16th round, OFI and Volos played a 0-0 draw at Yendy Cole. The Cretans were better, but Volos left with what he went to Heraklion for. Today’s program is dominated by the big derby of PAOK against Ahri on Toumba (20.00). Also playing Asteras Tripoli – Lamia (17.00) and Panaitolikos – Atromitos (18.00).