Panathinaikos was devoted and concentrated in the pitch and by winning all duels, prevailed over its “eternal rival” Olympiakos by 1- 0, in a match held at “Ap. Nikolaidis” stadium for the 9th match day of the Super League Greece championship.

In an ambience created by the fully crowded “Leoforos” and faithful to their strength, Panahinaikos’ players entered very strongly into the duel and lost their first chance just in the third minute by Hiljemark. The guests intended to take advantage of the “Green” enthusiasm, in the beginning and tried to counterattack, nevertheless after the first ten minutes, Marinos Ouzounidis’ team totally controlled the game “extinguishing” any attempt Olympiakos had to attack (basically from the wings). This way the game was mainly transferred towards the rival box. Hult and Coulibaly were the main spears of the “Green” attacks helping in many set pieces (both corners and fouls) and creating chances to score; as was the case in two headers by Molins in the 14th and the 42nd minutes respectively. The highlight was a shoot by Lod, during the extra time of the first half, from the very center of the box. His shoot was saved by Proto, who jumped in his right edge. The first period had a good rhythm and strong duels, in general.

In the second period the image of the game didn’t change as Panathinaikos continued controlling the situation and trying to steadily threat the rival’s goalposts. In the 56th minute their perseverance was successful as Lod, after an excellent race from the left side and a nice passing game with Molins, who shot the ball in parallel to the rival’s goalposts, Villafañez unmolested sent it towards the second post straight to Proto’s nets. This was enough to make the whole “Leoforos” stadium explode! Following that goal the rhythm of the game has been reduced and the “Shamrock” lost one more chance by Lod in the 74th minute. Olympiakos started to be aggressive and threatened during the last quarter. Nevertheless neither Ansarifard (twice) nor Emenike were able to win Vlachodimos who kept his goalposts intact. During the extra time, Mounier missed to score in a confrontation he had with Proto. The final score 1-0 gave to both the players and the fans of Panathinaikos a great opportunity to celebrate with enthusiasm.

Panathinaikos achieved a great victory getting not only an important “three-pointer” but also a moral strength, useful towards the coming matches.

Lineups:

Panathinaikos:Vlachodimos, Coulibaly, Moledo, Kolovetsios, Hult, Kourbelis, Sylla, Villafañez (83′ Cabezas), Lod, Hiljemark (87′ Koutroumbis), Molins (69′ Mounier)

Olympiakos:Proto, Elabdelaoui, Sisse, Engels, Kourtis, Romao, Ofoe (77′ Zile), Pardo (74′ Ansarifard), Fortunis, Androutsos (65′ Carsela), Emenike