Panathinaikos accomplished its first victory for 2017, by an uneasy victory over Kerkyra 1-0 thanks to the 5th goal of Sebastian Leto in the championship. This game was the one to conclude the 2nd match day of the Super League’s championship and took place at “Apostolos Nicolaidis” stadium, under a heavy snowfall.

Confidence was rather missing from Panathinaikos’ players, because of the unsuccessful previous games against Larisa and Platanias, as they seemed hesitant in their initiatives during all the first period. The hosts had a total control of the game, which was played in Kerkyra’s side of the pitch, although there were few free corridors towards Koutzavassilis’ goalposts.

Kourbelis “shook” the crossbar by a powerful shoot, being outside the box in the 24th minute. Concerning the rest, only some occasional combinations between Leto, Villafañes or Berg created some rifts, from time to time, against the multifaceted defense of the guests, without any usual chance though.

The white landscape and the relief in the 83rd minute.

The second half was also affected by weather conditions. The snowfall, which started almost at the same time as the kick-off, became really heavy and defined the way and the characteristics of the match complicating greatly the initiatives of both teams. Considering the difficulty to play at football under such circumstances the chances became even rarer, underlining that attitude and aggressiveness were not the most outstanding point of the game.

The “Greens” were able though to keep their opponents into their box, although the problem of creating chances was not resolved. The “Gordian Knot” was finally solved in the 83rd minute; following a corner executed by Panagiotis Vlachodimos, who had just entered the pitch, Leto scored the unique goal of the game by a header.

Regarding the remaining time, Panathinaikos managed the match easily keeping the positive result in his favor till the end of the duel, which led the team back to victories and offered a valuable three pointer as a consignment.

The teams:

Panathinaikos: Vlachodimos Ο., Mesto, Moledo, Koutroumbis (69’ Vlachodimos P.), Hult, Kourbelis, Lod, Villafañes (86’ Marinakis), Boumal, Leto (93’ Reis), Berg.

Κerkyra: Κoutzavassilis, Ioannou, Zaradoukas, Venetis, Spinoulas, Siontis, Andreopoulos (86’ Gomez), Zorbas, Georgiou (91’ Pamlidis), Kontos (69’ Epstein), Duala.