Panathinaikos left Agrinio with a precious win after a great comeback and a “golden” goal from Alexander Jeremejeff in the 95th minute! Although the Greens had fallen behind on the scoreboard against Panetolikos, they managed to overturn the result and claim all three points. It was a crucial victory for the Shamrock, following their impressive away win in Bern.
The game did not start well for Panathinaikos, as before the 20th minute and without having been threatened once, they found themselves behind. In the 18th minute, referee Tsakalidis was notified by VAR official Zampalas of a handball by Cerin. After an on-field review, he wrongly awarded a penalty, as before the ball touched the Slovenian midfielder’s hand, it had deflected off his face and body. Aguirre converted the penalty, giving the hosts the lead.
The Greens tried to respond and came close three times within four minutes. In the 32nd minute, Chirivella shot from the edge of the box but Chaves blocked. One minute later, Chaves denied Djuricic with his legs from close range. In the 36th minute, after a nice team move, Djuricic laid the ball off to Bakasetas, who shot first time but narrowly missed.
Panathinaikos came into the second half with energy and determination to turn things around. And indeed, in the 57th minute, Tete produced a brilliant individual effort inside the box, dribbling past two defenders and firing powerfully with his right foot to equalize (1-1).
The Shamrock almost completed the comeback in the 63rd minute, when after a low cross from Calabria and a touch from Swiderski, Sánchez couldn’t push the ball into the net. In the 86th minute, Panathinaikos came close again when Siopis’ shot deflected off Pantovic and went just wide.
Time was running out, but Christos Kontis and his players never stopped believing in the comeback. Finally, they succeeded in stoppage time with the help of two substitutes. In the 90+5’, Sánchez delivered a fine cross from the left, and Jeremejeff, in the right place at the right time, headed the ball home to seal the 1-2 victory.
Panetolikos: Chaves, Galiatsos, Sielis, Stajic, Nikolaou (77’ Manrique), Bouchalakis (44’ Kontouris), Esteban, Michalak (70’ Smyrlis), Matsan, Nkololo, Aguirre (70’ Aleksic).
Panathinaikos: Lafont, Calabria, Kyriakopoulos, Palmer-Brown, Ingason, Chirivella (83’ Siopis), Cerin (55’ Sánchez), Bakasetas (83’ Pantovic), Tete, Djuricic (56’ Zaroury), Swiderski (75’ Jeremejeff).
