The Invincibles, Greek style
It seemed an impossible feat to repeat, but for the first time since the 1963/1964 season, a Greek team has won the domestic championship without losing a single match along the way. AGONAsport analyses PAOK’s Invincibles.
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30 matches, 26 victories, four draws, zero defeats. That’s how PAOK stormed to their maiden Greek crown in 34 years and only the third in their entire history. In a quite incredible campaign, the Dikefalos tou Vorra proved to be simply unbeatable, breezing past all obstacles and opponents in their way. Let’s not forget that PAOK started the campaign with a two-point deficit either.
Olympiacos’ strong form makes PAOK’s achievement even more impressive. The Erythrolefki pushed PAOK as hard as they could, but despite winning their last 10 Super League matches, they still finished five points behind in second spot. 75 points would normally be enough to win the title - AEK became champions with 71 last year - but the PAOK train never came to a halt.
The two wins against Olympiacos were, naturally, crucial. In Piraeus, Olympiacos dominated proceedings, but they were left to rue plenty of glorious missed opportunities and a woeful-own goal from Jagos Vukovic which gifted PAOK all three points. Three points which ultimately decided the fate of the title.
In the return fixture in February, PAOK deservedly ran out 3:1 winners at a packed Toumba Stadium, bossing the match and scoring excellent goals through inspirational captain Vieirinha, Diego Biseswar and Chuba Akpom. That particular victory practically confirmed PAOK as champions there and then.
PAOK’s fantastic record in the major derbies was vital. In the six games against Olympiacos, AEK and Panathinaikos, PAOK achieved five wins, with the only slip-up being the 1:1 draw with their Dikefaloi rivals. After going down to 10-men while leading 1:0 at the Olympic Stadium, PAOK did concede an equaliser with Ezequiel Ponce scoring, but the visitors prevented AEK from gaining any momentum. A team without a strong mentality could have crumbled.
Coached by the wily Razvan Lucescu, who displayed his tactical intelligence and brilliant game management abilities, PAOK managed to haul themselves out of dangerous situations on several occasions. PAOK kept their composure when playing a hungry AEK side in Athens, the players made a dramatic comeback against Panetolikos in Agrinio and the two fixtures with Olympiacos proved this team has bottle.
In the 1963/1964 season, Panathinaikos became the first Greek club to win the league undefeated, gaining 24 victories and six draws in 30 matches. However, PAOK have now slightly bettered that record, picking up 26 wins and four draws. Let’s compare the two unbeaten seasons in more detail:
Panathinaikos 1963/1964
Goals scored: 67
Goals conceded: 19
Home form: 13 wins, 2 draws, 0 defeats
Away form: 11 wins, 4 draws, 0 defeats
PAOK 2018/2019
Goals scored: 66
Goals conceded: 14
Home form: 14 wins, 1 draw, 0 defeats
Away form: 12 wins, 3 draws, 0 defeats
Incidentally, PAOK were the only European team in the 2018/2019 season to finish the campaign unbeaten. Up until the final few weeks, Red Star Belgrade, Slovan Bratislava and Maccabi Tel Aviv were all without defeats in their respective leagues, but they subsequently contrived to lose at least one game each.
PAOK released this following video on their social media platforms as a tribute to their Invincibles:
