It was February 2007 when a 16-year-old teenager was driving a luxurious Skoda Xanthi Chalet. Team scouts followed the youngster from Ifantes Rodopis for three years, with severe pimples on his face, they convinced Christos Panopoulos that he would be his next proud sale to the “great” Greek football. “He will leave here, only for a transfer,” the then owner of the unpopular PAE said of him. Petro Mandalowhen he saw him at his first training sessions at the Skoda academies.

From the first contact with the ball, the little boy showed that he had an affair with him. His style, his handling of the ball with both feet, his vertical passing that broke the defence, his perception, his play from the edges, between the zones and in the opponent’s zone, belonged to 10 of the old days, but with modern elements. in his game.

“I remember it like now. In 2005 I was an assistant coach at Škoda, I saw him in some games with the academy in Komotini where he played and I was impressed. That’s how I agreed to have him join the team. “Xanthi” produced great players from time to time, but inside I was convinced that this player had everything to make a brilliant career. Then, in the five years that he played in the first team, he showed his qualities. I saw him as a player in his first steps in the first team and also at the end.Especially in the last year of his life, before he went to AEK where I was a coach, he did amazing things, mainly as an “eight”, very helped score and stay in the division, culminating in the match against Olympiakos Volos,” says former Xanthi technician and team “flag” Nikos Kehagias at K.

The “yellow and black” story of Mandalos began in the summer of 2013, but he still wore the Xanthi shirt, which he stayed in for a year, so as not to experience the sad image of amateur stadiums. Dimitris Melissanidis’s good personal relationship with Christos Panopoulos took Olympiacos and PAOK out of the game of his claims. He was the player on which the Union would start their new attempt to regroup from the barnyards of the 3rd national team.

But at the same time, it would also be a powerful story of the player himself that transcended his talent, a tumultuous relationship that offended him and brought him to the threshold of exit, to the threshold of a thin red line.

The one who was to blame for everything…

Mandalos became a leading figure in the team that won promotion to the Super League, it was he who lifted the cup in 2016, the championship in 2018, took on his shoulders a good European run and access to the Champions League groups.

But he was also to blame for all the troubles. For bad relations with coaches, for a click in the locker room, for “eating” the fans in the stands. There must have never been a football player who would garner all the applause for the good and all the anathema for the bad.

A bad pass, a misplaced hit, a mistake was enough to start a muttering that eventually reached the limits of rejection and complete discredit.

Doubts shackled him, and in May last year, unable to withstand the disapproval after the defeat of Olympiacos, he wanted to put an end to it. “There are no words for this course. What we can do is bow our heads and offer a huge apology to those who love the team. I am the one with the most responsibilities. Let the season end and in the coming days I know what to do. Trust me, I will take responsibility with actions, not words. Something is wrong, someone needs to take responsibility. In the coming days, everyone will know,” he said in a clear announcement of his retirement, which, fortunately, neither for the AEK leader nor for the team itself took place.

On a team that made the worst possible choice, going through three coaching changes in one year, Mandalos convinced himself it was his own fault. Someone had to bring him back to reality. And in the clearest way, Dimitris Melissanidis did it, turning a typical resignation appointment into an absolute vote of confidence. “You will leave when I also leave AEK,” he told him, and this message was reflected in the foundations of the newly built Hagia Sophia and at the same time became the slogan for a completely new beginning.

“His introversion choked him”

“Petros was a child closed to himself. He hardly showed his feelings. He was observant, from a young age he was fully aware of the situation in the locker room. He didn’t cause problems, but his introversion choked him. This explains his reaction last year,” says Nikos Kehagias. The cut and a fresh start with Almeida on the bench was the breath he was looking for. From the very beginning, the Argentine made it clear how much he believes in him, and shook off the burden of responsibility. Mandalus was not a leader who had to apologize for everything. He was just like the others. “I think it helped him that the coach removed the captain’s armband from him after what he had heard in the past. This relieved him. This gave him another role, leading but coming off the bench. And he justified it with his defining performances.”

With his magic leg and vertical razor, the 32-year-old ace provided assists that gave AEK three important doubles in this year’s championship.

Araujo’s dream ball on Toumba, an assist that went through half of the team in stoppage time in Nice, scored by Zuber in a 2-1 win over Ionikos, and the amazing ball he gave to Gacinovic in a 0-3 draw against OFI in Heraklion.

Mandalos has gone from being a captain to a loyal soldier who comes off the bench and provides solutions to take his team out of safety.

400 in Tumba

At Toumba, Mandalos played 400 professional games in all Greek football competitions and 309th in the AEK jersey.

A course that started on 13 September 2009 and Ergotelis – Xanthi 1-0 when the then German Skoda coach Wolfgang Wolff used it for the first time. In his second season, he played 4 matches, all as a substitute, and from 2011 to 2012 began to receive more time (17 matches – 2 goals).

In total, he played 91 matches for Xanthi in all competitions, 81 of them in the Super League, 5 in the Cup and 4 in European competitions. The 91st ended with his participation in the playoffs at Olympiakos Volos – Xanthi 1-2.

On September 12, 2014, he made his debut for Dikefalo at Fokikos – AEK 0-1. In the league, he scored 41 goals for a total of 76 goals in all competitions. His total assists in the Super League is 62 and he has a further 25 assists in all other competitions.

PAOK is the team he has played against the most with 31 matches, followed by Panathinaikos with 28. He has scored the most goals against Panionios (6 goals), followed by Aris and Atromitos with 5 goals.

More mature than ever, he is also a valuable tool in the hands of Gustavo Poyet of the national team. The recent game against Gibraltar and Bakasete’s amazing take-and-take ball proves how fit he is and that he has career years ahead of him that could restore his footballing reputation once and for all.