Panathinaikos was not able to get the New Year’s good omen as wished. The Greens ended with an unproductive 0-0 result at their home match against Asteras Tripoli, held at Leoforos ground. They were hurt due to many absences they had to deal with, in addition to their rivals from the Peloponnese. Lazlo Boloni could not count on the services of Mauricio, Kourbelis, Sanchez and Villafañez. Thus he was obliged to make his plans finding some emergency solutions in the middle and in the right side of the defense, covered by Juankar.

All the above allowed the visitors to enter the duel better, being much more aggressive during the first thirty minutes. From the 30th minute and on the Greens followed better the rhythm of the game and in the 38th minute they lost a great chance to open the score as Pougouras by a header from very close missed the target. Another shoot by Chatziyiovannis, from a close distance, after receiving an assist from Aitor, had the same chance, few minutes before the end of the first period.

In the second half Asteras tried to control the rhythm of the game again creating two clear chances to score; the first one at the very beginning and the last one just before the end of the match. In both cases Dioudis was the man who reacted wonderfully well and kept his goalposts intact. The goalless draw (0-0) was the final result in the first official game of the teams for 2021. Panathinaikos is now looking toward the coming games and the victories which will help the team to remain in the play offs position.

Panathinaikos: Dioudis, Juancar, Velez, Schenkeveld, Carlitos (76′ Μacheda), Chatziyiovannis, Bouzoukis (65′ Ιoannidis), Αitor (82′ Αthanassakopoulos), Pougouras, Ζagaritis, Αlexandropoulos.

Αsteras Tripolis: Papadopoulos, Κotsiras, Alvarez, Suarez, Castaño, Valiente, Μunafo (90′ Borja Fernandez), Sito (63′ Capilla), Riera (63′ Luis Fernandez), Crespi (87′ Τilica), Barales.