Passion and Determination Money Can’t Buy
AGONAsport’s Panathinaikos contributor, Nick Tsambouniaris, praises Panathinaikos for the fight, determination, passion, and hunger on show in Sunday’s derby against Olympiacos.
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“Derbies are different than regular season games,” “form and tactics go out the window in derbies” - age-old cliches but still more true than ever before!
The derby of Eternal Enemies is renowned for being passionate and hard-fought, but in recent seasons during Panathinaikos’ darkest times, many would expect Olympiacos to prevail almost all the time. However, that has not been the case. Panathinaikos continue to defy the odds in these one-off matches against their more illustrious opponents.
Going back to the 2014-15 season, the Greens have emerged victorious on three occasions, while there have been three draws and five wins to the Reds (two of those were 3-0 wins on paper due to crowd trouble). Most of these matches have been extremely hard-fought and wins away from home have been hard to come by for both sides. What Panathinaikos lack in quality, they make up for in fight, determination, hunger, and energy. Traits money cannot buy.
In fact, stretching back further to the 2010-11 season when Vangelis Marinakis took control of Olympiacos, the Trifylli have won five derbies, while there have been six draws and seven Olympiacos wins.
Another interesting statistic to note is that the Reds have only won two out of 13 derbies against the “Big-4” since the 2017-18 season. Ironically, since last season foreign referees have been used for derby matches in Greece…
Olympiacos were widely tipped to put a large score on Panathinaikos in last weekend’s derby at OAKA, but once again the Greens dug in and fought for every ball and frustrated a below-par Olympiacos outfit. If only Federico Macheda held his nerve from the spot, Yohan Mollo’s late equaliser would have been a winner instead. This is the hunger and determination that has been lacking in the opening three matches to start the season, but if this becomes the norm, results will drastically improve.
The Greens conceded a paltry seven goals against Aris and OFI combined, but Sokratis Dioudis was only beaten by a magnificent strike from distance on Sunday. The goalkeeper later stated that he received five injections just so he could play in the derby.
Giorgos Donis has been under pressure after the team’s poor start, but once again he was able to fire the players up for this fixture and his actions after the final whistle spoke volumes. Instead of celebrating Mollo’s goal, he instructed his troops not to celebrate a draw at home to the enemy. This is the killer mentality that is needed and it is great to see Donis knows what Panathinaikos means - ‘fighting soul.’ Donis and captain Dimitris Kourbelis promised that there would be a “reaction” and the players delivered.
The addition of Juan Jose Perea also riled up Olympiacos players as he chased every ball and he even had to be restrained after the game. This fight now needs to be taken into the upcoming game at Nea Smyrni against Panionios, a real bogey team for the Trifylli.
Gate 13 also attended training last week in a bid to instill some resolve in the playing squad, however, they did not attend the game as part of a protest rally against Giannis Alafouzos. This is a discussion for another day as the hugely unpopular owner has to leave.
For now, it is great to see those “cocky” “Gavroi” go back in hiding...
