Her league Super League continues to be claimed by… four, after his big victory Olympiakou against him PAOK with 2-1 at “Georgios Karaiskakis”. Jose Luis Mendilibar saw his team much fresher than Razvan Lucescu’s with the Spaniard to have chosen 8 different persons in relation to the historical game of Turkey for the UEFA Europa Conference League against Fenerbahce.
Olympiacos completely controlled the game in the first half and found a goal with Kinney taking the rebound after a missed Pontense penalty. The Portuguese, however, left his mark in the second 45 minutes – where the Piraeus were even better – making it 2-0 by Gelson Martinswhich was also his maiden in the league. PAOK lost in stoppage time with a goal by… the forgotten Marcos Antonio.
Olympiacos reached 66 points with PAOK staying at 67. The two teams are behind AEK (72) and Panathinaikos (71), but having to play the game between them in Toumba, on a date that has not yet been set due to the European trip of the Mendiliber team.
Navarro alerted PAOK’s defense and Olympiacos scored with Kini after Podense’s missed penalty
At the start of the game it was obvious that the freshest team on the pitch was Olympiacos. Medilibar’s targeting was clear with Navarro constantly moving on the back of PAOK’s defense which was playing quite high. The Spanish forward warned three times, two of which he already scored with the second being absolutely borderline and indicated via VAR, depriving the 26-year-old forward of his joy.
From a similar phase came the phase that determined the fate of the first half, with Koulierakis clearly overturning Navarro, perhaps pushing him unnecessarily inside the area, with Nogueira attributing the offense and showing the white bullet. Podense took over the execution of the penalty with Kotarski making an impressive save, but Kini took the rebound and opened the scoring for Piraeus.
The superiority of the home team was also evident in the personal duels. Almost all the first balls were won by a player in a red and white shirt, with Ibora being decisive in the central third for the second game in a row. Essentially, Olympiakos lacked personal inspiration with Podense and Martins not having a good day.
PAOK only found one valuable moment which came from a mistake by Ciquinhos in the midfield with Zivkovic but being blocked by four opponents, shooting to the bodies.
A magical action by Podense gave Gelson Martins a ready goal for Olympiakos 2-0
In the second half, the pace of the game did not change much compared to the first 45 minutes. From a static phase, the two teams with Tzolakis and Kotarski did not have to worry since on the one hand Tyson’s strong foul ended up being out while on the other hand Ibora’s shot inside the area ended up in the bodies.
But in the 61st minute came what was missing in the first half from the red and whites. Podense took the ball from the defense and built an exemplary counter-attack on his own. The Portuguese carried the ball for several yards, linked up with Horta and finally produced the perfect vertical pass with Gelson Martins taking advantage of Kotarski’s deflection and getting ahead of him to send the ball into the net.
PAOK lost with Marcos Antonio but Olympiacos did not let their effort go to waste
The red and whites continued to threaten with Mendiliber urging them from the bench to push even harder to “kill” their opponent. This did not happen and the Thessalonians remained in the game. They almost came close to reducing the score, but Tzolakis saved a difficult cross-shot by Baba, while Koulierakis missed from an advantageous position.
These were the only moments when Tzolakis worried a little more. Olympiacos continued to dominate and manage the result in their favor. If they were a little more careful with the final pass, the red and whites could have found more moments in front of Kotarski, something that Medilibar also knew.
PAOK reduced with Marcos Antonio in stoppage time, giving new interest to the final. But the hosts were not willing to “kill themselves” and got a big win that keeps them firmly in the championship battle.
The elevens:
Olympiacos (H.L. Mendiliber): Tzolakis, Kini (90+4′ Vezo), Retsos, Abi, Richards, Ciquinho (79′ Ese), Ibora, Horta (85′ Carvalho), Martins (79′ Masouras), Pontense, Navarro (85′ El Caabi)
PAOK (R. Lucescu): Kotarski, Sastre (79′ Yoni), Kenziora, Koulierakis, Baba, Meite (74′ Schwab), Ozdoev, Murg (59′ Despodov), Tyson (79′ Marcos Antonio), Zivkovic, Brandon Thomas (59′ Samata)
