In the port of Volos ends (probably) tonight (20:30) a journey reminiscent of… an Odyssey, through many adventures with cyclops, sirens, lestrigons and a new… episode. This effort of hers, after many obstacles, had everything EPO find a field for the long-suffering cup finalwhen the toss fell (after a round… of the whole world) on Panthessalikos, in conditions not at all like a football festival. Instead of thousands of followers they should have on their side, AEK And PAOK they will receive from… 20 invitations, for a total of (together with 30 invitations from the EPO and another 50 sponsors) 110 people in the stands plus another 150 media representatives. Together they do not exceed 300 people, who will be watched by about ten times as many policemen with draconian security measures!

However, the municipality of Volos issued a statement last night claiming to have identified PAOK fans in the city: “Because in the past few hours we have become aware of the movements of PAOK fans from reliable police sources. who are moving with fan-famous “vans” to the city of Volos, we call on both the EPO administration, the PAE administration and the police to intervene. If this information is confirmed and there is a threat to public order and the safety of our fellow citizens, Panthessaliko will be sealed and not a single match will be held in it,” they stressed, among other things.

In competitive terms, the final determines not only the title, but also the color of the European ticket. With AEK as champion securing a place in the Champions League qualifiers, PAOK has the above motivation, which only by winning the Cup will improve its European position by participating in the Europa League qualifiers, sending Olympiacos to the Conference League. There is a significant difference between the two tournaments in terms of prestige and income as the Red-Whites want to beat AEK in order to keep the ticket they were awarded with 3rd place in the league. The experienced German Felix Brych was appointed as a judge.

Municipality of Volos: Fans have arrived in the city. If public order is in danger, the Panthessalico will be sealed.

There are no last minute problems. The news that Nelson Oliveira will miss the final was more or less expected and does not change the plans of Lucescu, who is betting on El Kaduri and Nasberg. The Romanian coach did not announce his squad and took all his players to Volos. Almeida did the same. He took everyone on a mission, with the only loss being the wounded Araujo, who appeared at the press conference and, to show the thirst of all the people of AEK for the trophy, he stated that if it depended on him, he would even play like that!

“We want to win the final to celebrate the third double in our history. We haven’t rested since we won the championship. With empty stands, he loses football. The finale is a celebration. Our world will be somewhere and support us. Because of the pandemic, we are used to playing without fans. I don’t look back and don’t think we have an advantage. The team with the most desire will win,” said Matias Almeida.

For his part, Razvan Lucescu emphasized: “We know AEK, dynamics is important. More important is how mentally prepared you are and how focused you are, the will to win the game. A trophy is an award. In the playoffs, we were not focused and did not cope with the pressure properly, so we did not win a single derby with the Athens teams. AEK may be the favorite on paper, but it doesn’t really matter to football fans. If we do what we must, we have nothing to fear.”