Hat-trick hero Oliveira earns important AEK win
 

SUPER LEAGUE - MATCHDAY 13

An impressive hat trick from Nelson Oliveira earned an thumping 5-0 win for AEK against Panionios at home in the Super League.

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With incoming manager Massimo Carrera in attendance at the Olympic Stadium, the Kitrinomavri got back to winning ways in the Super League with a classy attacking performance, scoring five against a hapless Panionios side which couldn’t cope with AEK’s firepower.

Nelson Oliveira scored a hat trick for slick AEK, before wonderful goals from Daniele Verde and Petros Mantalos completed the job.

AEK now climb to third place in the table, but OFI will overtake them if they beat Lamia tomorrow. Panionios sit in 13th position with six points on the board.

This marks Panionios’ first defeat since late October. AEK, for their part, ended their three-game winless streak.

AEK travel to Xanthi next week, while Panionios make the trip to Volos.

THE MATCH

Initially, Panionios made the stronger start at the OAKA, as Bachana Arabuli passed up two promising opportunities when escaping the somewhat shaky AEK defence.

Stefanos Evangelou then forced Vasilis Barkas into a superb save when unleashing a powerful free kick from distance.

Nevertheless, AEK gradually improved, and Oliveira had a goal disallowed for offside.

Not long later, the Portuguese forward did have a legitimate goal to celebrate, pouncing on a sloppy passing mistake from Giannis Masouras and calmly stroking his ensuing shot beyond Jeremy Malherbe.

Oliveira doubled his tally in the 27th minute, prodding the ball over the line after Panionios failed to successfully clear Marko Livaja’s corner.

Panionios, however, didn’t lose heart and came flying out of the blocks for the second half. Clean through, Giannis Papanikolaou should have halved the deficit for the Panthers, but he was denied by an alert Barkas.

The visitors were creating plenty of problems for AEK, but in the 64th minute, Oliveira ended the game as a contest with a converted penalty which he had won.

This is Oliveira’s first AEK hat trick.

Young Bosnian midfielder Anel Sabanadzovic was handed his Super League debut in the 72nd minute as a substitute by AEK boss Nikos Kostenoglou.

Playing free-flowing attacking football, AEK turned on the style in the closing stages, and Daniele Verde registered his maiden goal for the Athens-based club with a stunning free kick which beat Malherbe with the help of the right post.

Petros Mantalos completed the rout as his deflected shot gave an excellent move the finish it deserved. Christos Almpanis had earlier missed the gaping net from point blank range.

TEAMS

AEK: Barkas, Hult, Chygrynskiy, Oikonomou, Bakakis, Galanopoulos, Krsticic (Almpanis 76’), Livaja (Sabanadzovic 72’), Mantalos, Verde, Oliveira (Giakoumakis 80’).

Panionios: Malherbe, Lymperakis, Stavropoulos, Evangelou, Papageorgiou, Oikonomidis (Emmanouilidis 60’), Korbos, Papanikolaou, Masouras (Milojevic 73’), Arce, Arabuli (Tsiloulis 44’).

HIGHLIGHTS

by Shaun Nicolaides

Image Source: sport-fm.gr

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