Panathinaikos began their campaign in the League Phase of the Greek Cup with a victory. The Greens, coming from two consecutive negative results in the league, played under pressure as they were desperate to return to winning ways — and they succeeded, defeating Athens Kallithea 1–0 at “Apostolos Nikolaidis,” though they could have won by a much larger margin as they created numerous clear chances.
The winning goal was scored by Cyriel Dessers, who “opened his account” for the club in his first match as a starter, while Vicente Taborda and 18-year-old Giannis Bokos made their official debuts in green.
Panathinaikos, under the guidance of U19 coach Dimitris Koropoulis, came out strong and nearly scored in the 3rd minute with Dessers and in the 4th with Taborda, who also hit the post in the 14th minute right after a big missed chance by Dessers. The Nigerian and the Argentine combined well again in the 16th minute, but Passalidis denied the goal at the last moment for Athens Kallithea.
The Greens found the goal they deserved based on their performance in the 30th minute. Tete made a fantastic run down the right, dribbled past several opponents, and at the right moment delivered a perfect assist to Dessers, who finished clinically to make it 1–0. Panathinaikos could have scored again in the 33rd minute with a stunning long-range curling shot by Taborda that missed just wide.
At the start of the second half, Panathinaikos lowered their tempo and Athens Kallithea created a big chance to equalize. In the 55th minute, Golfinos was left alone against Lafont, who produced a superb save to keep the clean sheet.
The Panathinaikos players managed the game carefully until the end, “sealing” the win as Kallithea posed no further threat, while they also had chances to double their lead with Bakasetas in the 76th and Ingason in the 77th minute. In both cases, the goal was denied by the Athens Kallithea goalkeeper and the post.
Panathinaikos: Lafont, Kotsiras, Mladenovic, Ingason, Jedvaj, Siopis, Bregu (68’ Bokos), Taborda (58’ Cerin), Tete (68’ Bakasetas), Zaroury (78’ Djuricic), Dessers (78’ Pantovic).
Athens Kallithea: Crespi, Panagou, Matijevic, Passalidis, Pavlakis, Krimitzas (78’ Zografakis), Satariano (64’ Metaxas), Mavrias (46’ Sardelis), Golfinos, Grivas (46’ Ormenaj, 69’ Vassilogiannis), Candijo.
