Greeks Abroad Review: Samaris hits the jackpot, Papazoglou scores

AGONAsport’s Shaun Nicolaides rounds up the performances of Greeks playing in other leagues in this week’s Greeks Abroad Review.

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Once again, Greek midfielder Andreas Samaris had his scoring boots on, as he struck gold with an excellent header in an emphatic 4:0 triumph for Benfica at Moreirense. Benfica currently occupy joint top spot of the Liga NOS with FC Porto.

Over in Romania, Athanasios Papazoglou scored for Dinamo Bucharest, while Charalampos Lykogiannis (Cagliari, Serie A), Sebastian Vasiliadis (Paderborn, German Bundesliga 2) and Panagiotis Tachtsidis (Lecce, Serie B) dished out assists for their respective clubs.

MAIN MEN (Comprised of current/former national team players):

Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Arsenal/English Premier League): Arsenal did not have a Premier League match at the weekend.

Konstantinos Mavropanos (Arsenal/English Premier League): The Londoners didn’t play a league game this week.

Jose Cholevas (Watford/English Premier League): Started the 2:1 FA Cup quarter-final victory against Crystal Palace and was replaced at half time.

Panagiotis Retsos (Bayer Leverkusen/German Bundesliga): The injured defender wasn’t available to participate in the 1:3 home defeat to Werder Bremen.

Anastasios Donis (VfB Stuttgart/German Bundesliga): Didn’t play in the 1:1 home draw against Hoffenheim.

Konstantinos Stafylidis (Augsburg/German Bundesliga): The defender is currently out with injury, and he consequently missed the 3:1 victory over Hannover 96.

Stefanos Kapino (Werder Bremen/German Bundesliga): Sat on the bench with Werder beating Bayer Leverkusen 3:1 on the road.

Kyriakos Papadopoulos (Hamburg/German Bundesliga 2): Still out with a long term injury, he didn’t participate in a dramatic 2:3 home loss to Darmstadt.

Kostas Manolas (AS Roma/Serie A): Also injured, he did not play in a surprise 1:2 away setback to SPAL.

Charalampos Lykogiannis (Cagliari/Serie A): Played 90 minutes in a 2:1 victory against Fiorentina at home and made an assist for the second goal.

Orestis Karnezis (Napoli/Serie A): Kept the bench warm in a eventful 4:2 win over Udinese in Naples.

Dimitris Nikolaou (Empoli/Serie A): Remained an unused substitute as Empoli defeated Frosinone 2:1.

Panagiotis Tachtsidis (Lecce/Serie B): Contributed with an assist for the first goal in a 2:2 draw against Crotone on the road. Picked up a yellow card and played the entire game.

Apostolos Vellios (Waasland-Beveren/Jupiler League): Emerged as a substitute for the closing eight minutes of a 3:4 loss to Standard Liege away from home.

Odysseas Vlachodimos (Benfica/Portuguese Primeira Liga): Kept a clean sheet with Benfica thrashing Moreirense 4:0.

Andreas Samaris (Benfica/Portuguese Primeira Liga): Scored the second goal for Benfica in the 4:0 victory against Moreirense and played the entire 90 minutes.

Dimitris Siovas (Leganes/La Liga): Played the full 90 minutes with Leganes losing 0:2 at home to Girona.

Konstantinos Mitroglou (Galatasaray/Turkish Super Lig): Remained on the bench as Galatasaray beat Bursaspor 3:2 on the road.

Georgios Tzavellas (Alanyaspor/Turkish Super Lig): Played 90 minutes with Alanyaspor losing heavily 0:3 to Antalyaspor.

Carlos Zeca (FC Copenhagen/Danish Superliga): Stayed on the pitch for the full 90 minutes as Copenhagen beat Hobro 3:1 in the Danish capital.

Alexandros Tziolis (Al Fayha/Saudi Professional League): Al Fayha did not play this weekend.

ENGLAND

Dimitris Konstantopoulos (Middlesbrough/English Championship): The back-up goalkeeper watched Middlesbrough lose 0:3 to Aston Villa from the comfort of the substitutes’ bench.

GERMANY

Dimitris Diamantakos (St Pauli/German Bundesliga 2): Used as a substitute in the 52nd minute. St Pauli were well beaten 0:4 by Sandhausen.

Sebastian Vasiliadis (Paderborn/German Bundesliga 2): Popped up with an assist for the third goal in a 3:1 triumph over Ingolstadt at home. Played 90 minutes.

FRANCE

Panagiotis Vlachodimos (Nimes/Ligue 1): As usual, he wasn’t in the squad. Nimes drew 2:2 at home to Strasbourg.

HOLLAND

Pantelis Hatzidiakos (AZ Alkmaar/Eredivisie): Sat on the bench was AZ claimed a surprise 1:0 win at home against UEFA Champions League quarter-finalists Ajax.

Konstantinos Lamprou (Ajax/Eredivisie): Remained on the bench in a 0:1 defeat to AZ.

Lazaros Lamprou (Fortuna Sittard/Eredivisie): Played 90 minutes in the 3:1 victory against FC Emmen at home.

Marios Vrousai (Willem II/Eredivisie): Stayed on the pitch for the entirety of a 3:2 away triumph over Feyenoord.

Vangelis Pavlidis (Willem II/Eredivisie): He also started the 3:2 win against Feyenoord, but after 63 minutes, he was substituted.

BELGIUM

Giorgos Galitsios (Mouscron/Jupiler League): Used as a substitute with 13 minutes remaining of the 2:1 away victory against Club Brugge.

Charis Charisis (Kortrijk/Jupiler League): Kept on the bench with Kortrijk defeating Antwerp 2:0.

Stergos Marinos (Charleroi/Jupiler League): Played the entire 90 minutes of a 1:2 home loss to Eupen.

PORTUGAL

Nikolaos Ioannidis (Maritimo/Portuguese Primeira Liga): Left out of the squad as his team lost 0:3 against FC Porto.

CZECH REPUBLIC

Giorgos Katidis (Pribram/Czech First League): Wasn’t to be seen as Pribram conceded a 0:2 loss at home to Slavia Prague.

TURKEY

Stelios Kitsiou (Ankaragucu/Turkish Super Lig): Played the full game against Yeni Malatyaspor with Ankaragucu dropping a 1:3 defeat.

Andreas Tatos (Altay/First League): Stayed on the pitch for 90 minutes as Altay comfortably beat Karabukspor 4:0.

Andreas Vasilogiannis (Umraniyespor/First League): Used as a substitute at half time. Umraniyespor lost 1:2 to Gaziantep at home.

Giorgos Georgiadis (Elazigspor/First League): Didn’t move from the bench in a 0:2 home setback to Adana Demirspor.

SWITZERLAND

Konstantinos Dimitriou (FC Basel/Swiss Super League): Not included in the squad to face league leaders Young Boys. The match ended all square at 2:2.

SWEDEN

Giannis Anestis (IFK Goteborg/Allsvenskan): The club didn’t play at the weekend.

SERBIA

Nemanja Milojevic (Vojvodina/Super Liga): The Athens-born midfielder did not compete in a 0:0 draw against Cukaricki.

Diamantis Chouchoumis (Vojvodina/Super Liga): Not included it the roster to play Cukaricki in the match which finished 0:0.

BULGARIA

Antonis Stergiakis (Slavia Sofia/Parva Liga): Conceded one goal in a 0:1 home loss to Etar.

Theofilos Kouroupis (FC Vereya/Parva Liga): Stayed on the bench with relegation doomed Veyera losing 3:4 to Levski Sofia in a seven-goal thriller.

SLOVAKIA

Lazaros Rota (MFK Zemplín Michalovce/Fortuna Liga): Missed the 0:4 defeat against Zilina.

Christos Kountouriotis (MFK Zemplín Michalovce/Fortuna Liga): Unlike his fellow Greek, he played 90 minutes in the 0:4 loss to Zilina.

ROMANIA

Aris Soileidis (FC Botosani/Romanian Liga 1): Played 90 minutes in a 1:2 defeat against Voluntari on the road.

Giorgos Koutroubis (Concordia/Romanian Liga 1): Kept on the bench in a 2:2 draw with FC Hermannstadt.

Athanasios Papazoglou (Dinamo Bucharest/Romanian Liga 1): Netted his team’s only goal in a 1:2 loss to Gaz Metan. Played the entire match.

Chrysovalantis Kozoronis (Petrolul/Romanian Liga 2): Started the 2:0 victory against Sirineasa and was eventually substituted.

Giorgos Sarris (Petrolul/Romanian Liga 2): Played the full 90 minutes in a 2:0 home triumph over Sirineasa in the second tier of Romanian football.

AUSTRIA

Anastasios Avlonitis (Sturm Graz/Austrian Bundesliga 2): Stayed on the bench in a 1:0 home victory against Austria Vienna.

Taxiarchis Fountas (St. Polten/Austrian Bundesliga): Played the entire 90 minutes of a 0:1 loss to Mattersburg.

Kosmas Gezos (Austria Klagenfurt/Austrian Bundesliga 2): Helped his club tally a 2:2 draw at Innsbruck by playing the full match.

POLAND

Giannis Mystakidis (Górnik Zabrze/Ekstraklasa): Started the 3:0 away triumph at Lech Poznan and was later replaced after 56 minutes of play.

Giorgos Mygas (Sosnowiec/Ekstraklasa): Played 90 minutes in a 0:1 setback to Lechia.

HUNGARY

Theodoros Berios (Kisvarda/OTP Bank Liga): Played the entirety of a 0:1 defeat to Ujpest away from home.

Stavros Tsoukalas (Kisvarda/OTP Bank Liga): The midfielder also stayed on the pitch for the full 90 minutes in the narrow 0:1 defeat against Ujpest.

AZERBAIJAN

Vangelis Platellas (Neftchi Baku/Premier League): Played 90 minutes in a 1:1 home draw against Gabala.

by Shaun Nicolaides

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