An incredible backheel from Elmin Rastoder in the 89th minute gave Panathinaikos yet another victory to celebrate! The Greens beat Aris 2–1 at OAKA on Matchday 4 of the Greek Cup League Phase, making it three wins from three in the competition and taking another step towards direct qualification for the quarter-finals.
With ten changes to the starting line-up that faced Volos, the Shamrocks played some good football in spells and endured a few difficult moments, but ultimately showed character to secure all three points. It was a fifth consecutive win in 14 days for Jacob Neestrup’s side.
The match began perfectly for the Shamrocks, who took the lead after ten minutes. Louza played a superb through ball to Kontouris, who cleverly wrong-footed Velho before producing a composed finish to make it 1–0.
The Greens remained in control and almost doubled their lead in the 40th minute, when Pellistri headed wide from Louza’s pinpoint cross. Aris threatened towards the end of the first half through Mir in the 44th minute and Charoupas in the 45th, but Penia was alert and produced two excellent saves.
The visitors also went close early in the second half, with Papasarafianos heading over the bar. Panathinaikos then had a golden opportunity to score a second goal and put the game beyond reach, but Velho came to the rescue in the 60th minute, saving Andino’s shot from inside the penalty area.
Instead of 2–0, however, it became 1–1. In the 65th minute, Aris broke quickly, with Garré playing the ball out to Papasarafianos, whose low ball across goal was turned in from close range by Kadewere.
The Greens refused to be discouraged and patiently searched for a winner. They threatened in the 83rd minute with a shot from Levi Garcia that Velho saved, before finally finding the goal they were looking for in the 89th. Kyriakopoulos delivered a fine low cross into the heart of the Aris penalty area, where Rastoder sent the ball into the net with an extraordinary backheel to seal a 2–1 victory.
Panathinaikos: Iñaki Peña, Triantafyllos Tsapras, Giorgos Kyriakopoulos, Giorgos Katris, Erik Palmer-Brown (58′ Rick van Drongelen), Pedro Chirivella (78′ Étienne Camara), Imrân Louza, Sotiris Kontouris (74′ Iason Nempis), Facundo Pellistri (58′ Santino Andino), Adriano Jagušić (58′ Levi García), Elmin Rastoder.
Aris: Ricardo Velho, Jérémy Petris, Fabiano Leismann, Boško Šutalo, Martin Hongla, Tom Dele-Bashiru (58′ Christian Kouamé), Sarafianos Papasarafianos (75′ Michalis Voriazidis), Konstantinos Charoupas, Fredrik Jensen, Rafa Mir (58′ Tino Kadewere), Othmane Boussaid (58′ Benjamín Garré)
