The team is now very close to be qualified for the stage of the quarter finals, of the Greek Cup.

The “Greens” did an important head start for the stage of the quarter finals of the Greek Cup, after defeating with a wide score 3-0 the team of Kissamikos at “Apostolos Nicolaidis” stadium. All the goals were scored during the second period of the duel.

The first period was mainly characterized by lack of chances. Panathinaikos had the mood for a good and quick rhythm, although it couldn’t break the opponent’s defense from the center and tried to play from the wings, without causing many problems into the rival’s box. The first real threat towards Lazaridis’ goalposts came in the 30th minute with a shoot by Villafañes. The first half finished with very few chances; Panathinaikos had the ball possession but was unable to create opportunities, like it happened in the previous match against Kerkyra.

The image of the match changed considerably from the first minutes of the second half thanks to a header goal scored by Berg, after a combination between Villafañes and Vlachodimos and a nice cross by the latter. This goal was enough to “unlock” Kissamikos’ defense and to change the shape of the game. The entrance of Leto made Panathinaikos more aggressive and the Argentinean player scored his second consecutive goal in a match by a header, after a foul executed by Villafañes.

The guest team tried to react in the last 15 minutes but Panathinaikos’ defensive attitude didn’t give them the chances they were looking for. On the other hand, there were much more corridors opened for the “Greens”, which were well “exploited” with rather dangerous chances by the “hearty” duo composed by Chatziyiovannis and Vlachodimos. In one of these Vlachodimos was overthrown by the goalkeeper of Kissamikos. He gained a penalty successfully executed by Leto, who duplicated his goals in the 90th minute of the game.

The final score (3-0) gave Panathinaikos a great head start for its qualification, in view of the coming rematch in Chania.

The teams:
Panathinaikos: Steele, Chouchoumis, Boumal (59’ Leto), Berg (78’ Rinaldi), Marinakis, Lod, Villafañes (74’ Chatziyiovannis), Thelander, Mesto, Evangelou, Vlachodimos.

Kissamikos: Laqzaridis, Goumas, Pantelakis, Seliniotakis, Tserkezos, Milic, Martinez (77’ Stathakis), Kike (63’ Matzis), Tsontakis, Silva, Moussa (72’Theos).