Panathinaikos started the game with strength showing its superiority in many occasions during the match. They lost many chances to “kill” the duel after the 1-0 and even to win it after the equalizer of the home team in a match held at XANTHI ARENA stadium for the 15th match day of the Super League Greece championship.
Maybe the final score didn’t change, as Panathinaikos, once more, couldn’t win in an away match – as this was the case also in 1980-81 season – completing the first round without a victory. However, this time the situation was completely different. The “Greens” appeared with a … strong pulse from the very first moment of the duel. They imposed their game and the truth is that in this match they deserved the victory much more than in any other game of the season, no matter which the final score was.
Altman might have opened the score early (in the 18th minute) by a nice left foot shoot, from the box, after a save by the rival defense. Till that moment Marino Ouzounidis’ team made its intentions clear by threatening three times already, thanks to Sotiris Pispas who was very active in his first appearance as a starting lineup player in the championship. After the 1-0 and till the 30th minute very important chances to double the goals and to remain well ahead in the score were lost. Nevertheless, Avlonitis in the 20th minute, Altman in the 22nd and Pispas again in the 25th couldn’t beat Zivkovic and the score remained unchanged till the pause. After the first thirty minutes and till the end of the first period no chances were created and the “Shamrock” kept the control of the game without any modification.
However a change occurred during the second half as the home team gradually achieved to pass better the ball and find its rhythm. This change of course was not enough to harm Panathinaikos as despite two chances by Jendrisek (in the 50th minute) and Lucero (in the 60th minute) Xanthi couldn’t practically threat its rival. Maybe the “Greens” were missing the freshness of the first half, nonetheless they could pass the ball with confidence. In the 79th minute, though, following a domino of errors from the midfield to the defense, Jendrisek entered in a shooting position and scored by a nice head the equalizer (1-1). The “Greens” reacted and increased their pressure getting closer to Xanthis’ box. Their effort, though, was partially awarded as they came close to score with both Kourbelis in the 83rd minute and mainly with Hiljemark, who was the “fatal” player for his team. He missed to score in two occasions; firstly after getting an assist by Donis in the 90th minute and then at the header-pass of Kountouriotis in the 94th minute. This way the one all draw remained till the last whistle of the referee, giving a bitter disappointment to the “Shamrock” that was expecting much more.
Lineups:
Xanthi: Zivkovic, Fliskas, Lisgaras, Baxevanidis, Casado, Mejia, Meliopoulos (46′ Syla), De Lucas, Jendrisek (92′ Castro), Lucero, Kike (69′ Fasidis).
Panathinaikos: Vlachodimos, Koulibaly, Avlonitis, Kolovetsios, Hult, Viallafañez, Kourbelis, Tzandaris, Lod (82’ Hiljemark), Altman (90′ Kountouriotis), Pispas (77′ Donis).
