Greek Football Round up

Olympiakos Breaks Another Record

Sunday’s victory was a historic victory for Olympiakos, since it was their 16th consecutive one, setting a new record of winning streak in A1 Division. Olympiakos defeated Apollon Kalamarias 2-1. Kalamaria threatened Nikopolidis’ nets in the beginning, yet they could not escape their fate, as Olympiakos improved and took control of the encounter. Rivaldo was the leading star once again, and in the 16’ he scored the opening goal for his team. However, it was Dani who got credits for the goal, since in his effort to secure it, it was the last person to touch the ball before resting in Kalamarias’ nets.

In the rerun, Kalamaria revived and were pretty threatening, with Cleyton targeting the cross bar of Nikopolidis' goalpost. Yet, Olympiakos gave their reply a few minutes later. Djordjevic was awarded a penalty and scored the second goal for his team in the 58’. From that moment on, Olympiakos players slowed down, giving the guest the chance to score a goal, something that they achieved in the 79’ with Cleyton. Two minutes later, Orfanos almost ruin Olympiakos’ party, but his kick targeted Nikopolidis’ goalpost.

Referee: Finokaliotis (Athens)
Yellow Cards: Taralidis, Samouilidis
OLYMPIAKOS: Nikopolidis, Pantos, Georgatos, Schurrer, Anatolakis (84’ Taralidis), Stoltidis, Toure, Okkas (63’ Castillo), Dani (72’ Babaginda), Rivaldo, Djordjevic.
APOLLON KALAMARIAS: Kovac, Fytanidis, Papadopoulos, Karaliopoulos, Parmaxidis, Orfanos, Koltsis, Galanopoulos (87’ Goncalvez), Cleyton, Christoforidis (46’ Samouilidis), Ailton (70’ Popara).

Panathinaikos move into second with win over PAOK
ATHENS, March 11 - A 65th minute header by Greece striker Dimitris Papadopoulos gave Panathinaikos a 1-0 win over PAOK Salonika in Thessaloniki on Saturday.

The victory moves them up a place into second in the first division with 51 points, three ahead of AEK Athens who host Panionios on Sunday.

Panathinaikos remain nine points behind leaders Olympiakos Piraeus who entertain Apollon Kalamaria on Sunday.

The teams who finish in the top two qualify to play in next season's Champions League.

PAOK's hopes of a UEFA Cup spot took a double hit after Atromitos scored a late goal to win 1-0 at Egaleo in Saturday's other game to leapfrog PAOK into sixth place.

Victory of Essence for AEK

AEK returned to victories, after defeating Panionios 2-0 on match day 23. AEK performed better throughout the encounter and managed to get three points in the bag reinstating them on second place along with Panathinaikos and giving a boost to their psychology crushed by the defeat from Panathinaikos. Panionios, on the other hand, has not yet ducked relegation. Katsouranis in the 20’ and Ivic in the 71’ scored for AEK.
Referee: Kouklakis (Chania)
Yellow Cards: Ivic, Cirillo

Lineups:

AEK: Hiotis, Georgeas, Tziortziopoulos, Cirillo (85’ Moras), Alexopoulos, Katsouranis, Emerson, Ivic (74’ Chanko), Lakis, Venglinskyi, Julio Cezar (65’ Soares).

PANIONIOS: Vaniak, Koutsopoulos (49’ Breska), Makos (74’ Fernantes), Exouzidis, Gaspar, Spyropoulos, Maniatis (83’ Goundoulakis), Zografakis, Magdy, Luciano, Kampantais.

"Breather" for OFI

OFI claimed a great 3-0 home victory against Ionikos and revived their hopes to stay alive in the battle to avoid relegation. Both teams entered the pitch determined, irrespective of the many absences. The home side almost took the lead in the 13’, but Machlas missed his target. In the 28’, Machlas proved more effective and opened the score for the Cretans. Ionikos tried to answer back, yet it was OFI that managed to take a 2-0 lead. In the rerun, although both teams lacked in retaining a steady pace, OFI succeeding in targeting Beqaj’s nets for a third time.

Referee: Briakos

Yellow Cards: Poulopoulos, Tchipev, Gutman, Deyanof, Da Costa

OFI: Sifakis, Pitsos, Konstantinidis, Isa (73` Anastasiadis), Davidson, Deyanof, Tchipev (88` Denstsas), Khachatryan, Nwafor (82` Roubakis), Oforiquaye, Machlas.
IONIKOS: Beqaj, Ukar, Pajuelo, Poulopoulos, Melabianakis, Lettieri (56` Sahinidis), Triantafyllou, (46` Kotitsas), Da Costa (73` Kakaras), Makor, Gutman, Onwuachi.

Iraklis on Their Way to Europe
Iraklis made yet another step to booking a ticket for the UEFA Cup, after scoring a 1-0 away victory over Levadiakos on match day 23. Levadiakos, on the other hand, have not escaped the danger of relegation, since they have gathered only 21 points. The winning goal that earned Iraklis the three points was scored by Epalle in the 80’.

Referee: Karatzas (Evia)

Yellow Cards: Georgiadis, Katsiabis, Prittas, Kallimanis

Lineups:
LEVADIAKOS: Karakostas, Kallimanis, Maheras, Pastos, Dimitropoulos, Andralas, Bassala, Vitalis, Alex (70` Gourma), Sisic (46` Rusev), Bushi.

IRAKLIS: Abaris, Papazaharias, Perperidis, Katsabis, Seghiri, Poursanidis, Prittas, Lagos (90` Kapetanos), Herrera (72` Papapostolou), Epalle, Georgiadis.