Greens move into top six
SUPER LEAGUE - MATCHDAY 18
Panathinaikos made light work of Super League strugglers Panionios on Sunday, defeating the Nea Smyrni club 3-0 comfortably at the Olympic Stadium to climb up to sixth in the table.
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Goals from Christos Donis, Federico Macheda and Emanuel Insua wrapped up an impressive home win for Giorgos Donis’ side, who bounced back from both their mid-week Greek Cup loss to PAS Giannina and last weekend’s Athens derby defeat to fierce rivals Olympiacos.
As a result, the Greens have collected 25 points and are now sixth in the standings, a feat which puts them in the battle for European places, while bottom club Panionios remain at the foot of the table with just six points to show for their efforts after 18 matches.
THE MATCH
After a disappointing Greek Cup defeat to Giannina on the back of a 1-0 derby defeat by Olympiacos, Panathinaikos were looking for a confidence boost from their league commitments.
A rollercoaster season for the Athens club suffer another dip in the last week with the derby defeat to Olympiacos and cup loss to second division PAS. Certainly, talk of crisis is never far from Panathinaikos at the moment, but a victory today would surely settle things down.
And perhaps conveniently for the hosts, they came up against a Panionios side who look condemned to the relegation playoffs. A series of poor results has erased the feel good factor of a decent run in late autumn.
And an eager Panathinaikos side were in control of this match right from the kick-off, with Donis firing a shot against the left post after seven minutes, before he then made amends seven minutes later with the opening goal.
Donis intercepted the ball from a poor clearance made by Panionios defender Luis Domingues, and he surged forward before hitting a powerful diagonal shot past the helpless visiting goalkeeper Jeremy Malherbe.
Panathinaikos stepped off the accelerator after going ahead, and Panionios began to play their way into the match, but without threatening Sokratis Dioudis’ goal.
Then, on the stroke of half-time, the home side doubled their advantage with a perfect counter-attack. Ghayas Zahid sent Macheda rampaging through on goal with a delicious pass, and the Italian striker made no mistake with a confident, side-footed finish.
That goal ended the match as a contest and Insua rounded off the scoring after 64 minutes to complete a welcome win for Donis’ team.
HIGHLIGHTS
