Toothless AEK first Greek club without Champions League point
In dropping a disappointing 0:1 defeat to Benfica on Wednesday evening, AEK became the first Greek team in history to lose all six matches in the UEFA Champions League group stage. AGONAsport investigates.
It couldn’t have been any worse. Many expected AEK to be competitive in Group E of the Champions League against Bayern Munich, Ajax and Benfica, but the Athenians propped up the rear with zero points in six matches. As a result, AEK are now the first Greek club in history to go point-less in the Champions League group stage. Last year, Olympiacos set the record for the least amount of points gained by a Greek club in the competition when tallying one point in a group with Barcelona, Juventus and Sporting Lisbon, but AEK have gone one step further with absolutely nothing to show for their efforts.
To their credit, AEK were never embarrassed in any of the six matches, and statistics show that it was the poor second half performances which let them down. In four of the six matches, the Kitrinomavri were actually level at half time, but they ran out of energy as time rolled on and ended up conceding goals. AEK came closest to points in the two games against Benfica. At home, AEK deserved more in a heartbreaking 2:3 defeat, before a stunning free kick from Alex Grimaldo on 88 minutes won the second game 1:0 for Benfica in Portugal.
A major factor in AEK’s misery has been the shocking discipline within the team. If we take into account the four qualifying matches against Celtic and Vidi, AEK picked up a huge six (!) red cards in just 10 Champions League matches, something which is unprecedented at this level of football. The Enosis’ troubles in the tournament were summed up perfectly in the sixth game with Benfica when Konstantinos Galanopoulos’ red card (his second of the competition) allowed the opponents to score the winning goal from the resulting free kick. Star Croatian forward Marko Livaja was also sent off twice during the course of the tournament.
This statistic might be the worst of all. In three Champions League group stage away matches against Ajax, Bayern and Benfica, AEK failed to register a single shot on target! No goals is already bad enough, but in this day and age, it’s practically unheard of for a team to go through the entire group stage without having a shot on target in away games. More than anything, this highlights the severe lack of quality among AEK’s players, and does suggest that the Kitrinomavri were completely out of their depth.
AEK finished the group phase with zero points, two goals scored (both in the 2:3 defeat to Benfica in Athens) and 13 conceded. On the other hand, given that AEK were playing in the Gamma Ethniki five years ago, it was an impressive achievement to even play in the Champions League and the players have enjoyed an experience which should make them stronger for the future.
This year, AEK were the only Champions League to remain point-less in the group stage. These are the other 20 teams which also didn’t tally a Champions League point in the past:
Kosice (1997/1998)
Fenerbahce (2001/2002)
Spartak Moscow (2002/2003)
Bayer Leverkusen (2002/2003)
Anderlecht (2004/2005)
Rapid Vienna (2005/2006)
Levski Sofia (2006/2007)
Dynamo Kyiv (2007/2008)
Maccabi Haifa (2009/2010)
Debrecen (2009/2010)
Partizan Belgrade (2010/2011)
Zilina (2010/2011)
Dinamo Zagreb (2011/2012)
Villarreal (2011/2012)
Otelul Galati (2011/2012)
Marseille (2013/2014)
Maccabi Tel Aviv (2015/2016)
Club Brugge (2016/2017)
Dinamo Zagreb (2016/2017)
Benfica (2017/2018)
