PAOK conquer Olympiacos at the Karaiskakis
SUPER LEAGUE PLAYOFFS - MATCHDAY 8
Enea Mihaj scored the only goal of the game as PAOK returned to winning ways in style on Sunday with a hard-fought 1-0 away win over champions Olympiacos at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus
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The 22-year-old Albanian defender scored with a powerful header after PAOK carved open the Erythrolefki defence with a slick passing move down the right channel, ending with Mihaj converting Rodrigo’s cross.
It was just about what Abel Ferreira’s deposed champions deserved from a match in which the Dikefalos tou Vorra were on top for long spells and created the most clear chances against Pedro Martins’ newly-crowned champions, who also lost their unbeaten record in the league.
The result means that PAOK restored their three-point lead over AEK, who were 2-1 winners against Panathinaikos, and the Thessaloniki remain in the driving seat for second place and a place in the Champions League qualifiers.
THE MATCH
PAOK headed into this match with an ever-expanding injury list but still in buoyant mood given the decision from CAS which saw their seven points reinstated.
After winning the league title last season, PAOK promptly lost it to an Olympiacos side who had not won it since 2017, and Olympiacos’ final matches - this one included - will essentially be warm-ups for the Greek Cup final toward the end of the month and the return leg of their Europa League Round of 16 tie versus Wolves in early August.
For PAOK, the success of their appeal to CAS changes the narrative of their season. After a period of poor form, the team came into this match with a viable chance to finish second and grab a Champions’ League qualifier place.
A hungry-looking PAOK started the match strongly with young striker Christos Tziolis winning a third-minute corner with some good play, and then on 14 minutes Diego Biseswar flashed a shot narrowly past the post when he should have done better following a click passing move involving Mauricio and Rodrigo.
The home side were not getting a chance to get in behind the PAOK defence, with the visitors on the front foot. Omar El Kaddouri tried his luck from long range after 26 minutes, but the Moroccan’s effort was more in hope than anything else and sailed high over Jose Sa’s crossbar.
Olympiacos finally made some inroads into the PAOK half and won a free-kick on 31 minutes down on the right flank, which yielded their first real chance of the match. Omar whipped over a free-kick and Ruben Semedo leaped highest to send a header onto the outside of Alexandros Paschalakis’ left post and out of play.
It was a close call for PAOK but they shrugged it off and continued with their confident possession play, which fashioned another opportunity on 40 minutes when Akpom released Biseswar. However, the Dutchman’s first-time finish was a tame one and easily gathered by Sa.
PAOK had another go just before half-time through Mauricio, and the Brazilian’s long-range effort had Sa scrambling low down to his left to push the ball around the post for a corner which came to nothing.
The second half saw PAOK continue to go about their task with the same industry and focus as the first, while Olympiacos stil found it tough to find a route to goal at the other end. The only difference with the opening 45 minutes was that there were even fewer chances and more niggly fouls started to creep in.
PAOK threatened again in the 58th minute when the lively Biseswar surged down the left and teed up Dimitris Giannoulis, only for the Greek international defender to blaze his shot over the crossbar from a good position.
Both sides made several changes of personnel at the 60-minute mark, with Karol Swiderski coming on for PAOK in place of Chuba Akpom, and Olympiacos bringing on Bruno Felipe and Kostas Fortounis for Giorgos Masouras and Guilherme.
Biseswar skied another promising opportunity from a position on the edge of the Olympiacos penalty area in the 66th minute as PAOK continued to look for a breakthrough.
Olympiacos got themselves in a good position on a rare forward foray in the 74th minute when the overlapping Kostas Tsimikas’ sent a cross into the box. Youssef El Arabi arrived to meet it but he failed to get a solid connection on it under pressure from the PAOK defence and Pachalakis gathered it comfortably.
That proved to be El Arabi’s last contribution as he was then replaced by Ahmed Hassan. The Egyptian had an instant chance to make a difference from a Mathieu Valbuena corner, but the substitute sent his header well wide of Paschalakis’ right post.
On 84 minutes Hassan then came within a whisker of sending a header past his own goalkeeper from a PAOK corner, but fortunately for the Olympiacos striker the ball flashed past the outside of the near post.
Just when it seemed the match was destined for a goalless stalemate, PAOK managed to find the breakthrough their dominance had deserved. After Miroslav Stoch’s free-kick was blocked by the Olympiacos defence, Rodrigo picked up possession. The Brazilian full-back played a neat one-two with countryman Mauricio and sent over an inviting cross which Mihaj, who had came on for Ingi Ingason at half-time, headed into the net from an unmarked position at the back post.
There was late drama when Hassan bundled the ball into the net in added time from a yard out after Pape Abou Cisse had seemed to kick the ball out of Pachalakis’ grasp, but the ‘goal’ did not stand as two Olympiacos players were offside, including Hassan.
STARTING LINEUPS
Olympiacos: 1 Sa (Gk), 21 Tsimikas, 66 Cisse, 3 Semedo, 14 Elabdellaoui, 5 Bouhalakis, 4 Camara, 8 Guilherme, 19 Masouras, 11 El-arabi, 28 Valbuena
PAOK: 31 Paschalakis (Gk), 2 Rodrigo, 4 Ingason, 5 Varela, 49 Michailidis, 23 Giannoulis, 7 El Kaddouri, 8 Mauricio, 68 Tzolis, 21 Biseswar, 47 Akpom
