It was the kind of a match that a team needs to put heart and soul to win. The “Greens” had to overcome many problems in order to compete against a good team and finally left the ground of Rizoupoli, after winning the team of Apollon Smyrnis 1-0, achieving their first three pointer for 2021.  For one more game, the Shamrock had to strive with many absences and line up with an “emergency” team in both the mid field line and the right defense; there was also a psychological pressure after losing points at the home match against Asteras Tripoli, last Sunday

The Greens entered the game well and were happy to lead the score in the 20th minute as, following a nice combination between Chatziyiovannis and Juankar, Fotis Ioannidis scored from very close its first goal wearing the green shirt with the white shamrock on the chest. The hosts tried to react and threatened Dioudis’ goalposts twice, though Panathinaikos goalie reacted correctly whenever needed.

The second period didn’t start very well for the Greens. In the 51st minute the referee whistled a penalty against Panathinaikos as Zagaritis marked Tsiloulis and although he canceled it after consulting the VAR – seeing that the foul was done outside the box – he showed Zagaritis a second yellow card expelling the young defender from the match. During almost all the second half Panathinaikos was obliged to play with one player less. Chatziyiovannis had to play initially as a right back and Juankar moved to his usual position. Later the first one was substituted by Mollo.

The stress in that match didn’t come to an end as in the 77th minute referee Κοutsiaftis disallowed correctly, after consulting the VAR, a goal scored by Apollon, because Bedinelli was in an offside position. The 0-1 result remained till the last whistle of the referee. This way Panathinaikos left Rizoupoli after having won a difficult rival and from now on the team is looking toward the match against Larissa, which will take place next Sunday in Leoforos stadium.

Panathinaikos: Dioudis, Juankar, Velez, Schenkeveld, Μacheda (81′ Carlitos), Chatziyiovannis (73′ Mollo), Ioannidis (85′ Μavromatis), Αthanassakopoulos (82′ Αitor), Pougouras, Ζagaritis, Αlexandropoulos

Αpollon Smyrnis: Vernhoulst, Brusic (70′ Chouchoumis), Lisgaras, Dominguez, Baxevanidis, Κol, Ioannidis (34′ Daouda), Bedineli, Slivka, Μark Fernandez (70′ Μounier), Τsiloulis.