Panathinaikos were dominant, played attractive football and celebrated a major victory over PAOK in the season’s first derby. The Greens were outstanding throughout the match, remained in complete control and defeated the Double-Headed Eagle of the Greek North 3-1 to record their second successive league victory.
The Shamrock made a forceful start and threatened in the 12th minute when Levi headed goalwards following a superb outside-of-the-foot cross from Taborda. Pavlenka, however, reacted instinctively to keep the ball out. The Greens continued to apply pressure and looked dangerous again on the counterattack in the 15th minute. Taborda played a wonderful through ball into space for Tetteh, who produced a brilliant piece of skill to get past Elustondo. PAOK’s defender illegally brought down the Panathinaikos striker as he was about to go one-on-one with Pavlenka, and German referee Zwayer showed him a red card.
Panathinaikos’ dominance was converted into a goal before the half-hour mark. In the 29th minute, Kyriakopoulos delivered an excellent cross from the left and Taborda made a center-forward’s run before finishing superbly with his head to make it 1-0. The Argentinian scored for the second successive match—and once again with a header—just as he had done in the midweek Cup tie against Niki Volos.
The Panathinaikos onslaught continued and produced a second goal. In the 38th minute, the powerhouse Tetteh received the ball inside the penalty area, took on the entire PAOK defense, stayed on his feet and fired a powerful low shot into the net to make it 2-0.
The Greens had a great opportunity to extend their lead before half-time. Bataoulas handled the ball inside the penalty area while attempting to stop Tetteh, and the referee awarded the clear-cut penalty. Taborda stepped up to take it in the second minute of stoppage time, but Pavlenka turned his effort behind for a corner.
The second half began with the Shamrock retaining complete control of the match, and Jacob Neestrup’s side soon added a third goal. In the 53rd minute, Kangwa delivered an excellent cross towards the far post, where Tetteh arrived at pace and powered a header into the net for 3-0.
Shortly after the hour mark, the Panathinaikos coach looked to freshen up his team by introducing Dessers and Louzá in the 61st minute, followed by Ounahi in the 67th as the Moroccan made his return in green. However, Dessers was shown a straight red card in the 70th minute following a VAR intervention and an on-field review by the referee. Shortly beforehand, the Nigerian Panathinaikos striker had come close to making it 4-0 with a close-range effort, but Pavlenka produced a spectacular save. PAOK pulled one back through Ugresic in the second minute of stoppage time to complete the scoring at 3-1.
The Greens celebrated their second consecutive league victory and their fourth across all competitions. Their attention now turns to Thursday’s rescheduled match against Kifisia (10 September, 9 p.m.), once again at the Olympic Stadium.
Panathinaikos: Pena, Calabria, De Vrij, Van Drongelen, Kyriakopoulos, Camara (Biniaris 90’), Kangwa (Louza 61’), Taborda (Dessers 61’), Andino, Levi García (Rastoder 90’), Tetteh (Ounahi 67’).
PAOK: Pavlenka, Kenny, Elustondo, Michailidis, Giannoulis, Santamaría (Mady Camara 58’), Zafeiris (Ugresic 75’), Pelkas (Bataoulas 18’), Ali (Taison 75’), Zivkovic (Chatsidis 46’), Ndiaye.
