Greek Cup Review: Shock in Athens, derby drama in Piraeus

By: Peter Katsiris | March 7th, 2009

On the final night of the Greek Cup quarter-finals there was plenty of suspense in Athens, Piraeus and Tripolis as the field of clubs vying for domestic silverware was reduced to four teams. With AEK already booking their place in the next round with an away goals win over Skoda Xanthi last week, there were only three spots left up for grabs on Wednesday night.

Asteras Tripolis FC 1-0 Panionios GSS FC
(Asteras Tripolis FC advances 2-0 on aggregate)
Bastia 34′

The action started in Tripoli as Asteras Tripolis aimed to uphold a 1-0 aggregate lead over Panionios in front of their home fans. The hosts didn’t wait for their opponents to level the aggregate score-line as Adrian Bastia put Asteras up 1-0 in the match, 2-0 on aggregate, and prematurely into the ensuing round when he struck just past the half-hour mark.

Despite having both Alvaro Recoba and Faian Estoyanoff in the line-up, Panionios was unable to solve a steeled Asteras defense. Panagiotis Stamatopoulos’ men failed to survive to reach the next round of the Greek Cup. A momentous win for Nikos Kostenoglou’s was the main story, however, as the Arcadian club is happily distracted from the relegation battle in the Super League with their first ever appearance in the semi-finals of the Greek Cup.

Panathianikos FC 2-3 Panserraikos FC
(Panserraikos advances 3-2 on aggregate)
Baykara 23′, Ceh 56′ (pen.), 71′ – Christodoulopoulos 75′, 90′ + 3′

In Athens, Panathinaikos was expected to easily dispose of Panserraikos after the two sides played to a 0-0 draw in Serres. The visitors, however, jumped to an early lead and were on pace for a rout of their hosts until Henk Ten Cate’s side pulled back two goals to make the result respectable, but not enough for a ticket into the next round.

Panserraikos grabbed an early lead through Deniz Baykara’s twenty-third minute goal, after the Turkish midfielder combined with team-mate Patrick Zoundi to slip past Panathinaikos defender Loukas Vyntra and slot a perfect strike past ‘keeper Mario Galinovic.

The deficit grew by a further goal for the traveling ‘Liontaria’ when Nastja Ceh converted a penalty after Vyntra had committed a foul on Giorgos Pipinis in the Panathinaikos box. The Slovenian didn’t need a spot kick to add his second of the match on seventy-one minutes. Sotiris Konstantinidis did most of the work before shuffling off the ball for the wide open Ceh, who in turn made no mistake as he beat Galinovic for the second time in fifteen minutes.

A gloomy silence fell over the Athenian crowd that expected an untroubled passage into the next round. The ever stubborn Lazaros Christodoulopoulos took matters into his own hands with a response for Panathinaikos on seventy-five minutes with a slick finish off a free-kick for the former U-21 Greece international.

A brace for the former PAOK striker was elusive until the third minute of stoppage time as another individual effort from Christodoulopoulos concluded with another goal for Panathinaikos. Speeding down the flank and then into the Panserraikos box, the 22-year old fired a shot towards the goal, and with a little help from Panserraikos Anastasios Papazoglou the visitors’ lead was reduced to just one.

Although Panathinaikos had picked up momentum in the last quarter of an hour, the effort was simply too little too late for the Athenians, who shockingly crashed out of the Greek Cup, while Panserraikos progresses to the next round.

Olympiacos CFP 2-0 PAOK FC
(Olympiacos advances 2-1 on aggregate)
Diogo 46′, Derbyshire 108′

In Piraeus the derby between Olympiacos and PAOK was renewed at the Giorgos Karaiskakis Stadium. The hosts had lost the first leg thanks to Sergio Conceicao’s chipped effort giving PAOK the edge at the Toumba Stadium in Thessaloniki.

Having already traveled to the port city for a Super League meeting, PAOK’s 2-0 defeat to Olympiacos ahead of the New Year was a worrying point for manager Fernando Santos. His side were forced to remain in a defensive shell for most of the match, but that didn’t stop Olympiacos from putting a couple ticks on the scoreboard.

After a frustrating first-half, Diogo put Olympiacos on the right track just one minute after the interval. The Brazilian accurately directed his header past PAOK ‘keeper Kostas Chalkis when a pinpoint cross from Luciano Galletti came calling for the former Portuguesa striker.

Despite Olympiacos’ early breach of the PAOK barricades had levelled the aggregate score, the highly desired second goal was far more elusive for thedefensing Greek Cup Champions. They did, however, gain an obvious advantage when Pablo Contreras and Vladimir Ivic picked up their second caution of the night ahead of the eighty-minute mark.

Down to nine men, and needing a goal, progression looked out of the question for PAOK as Ernesto Valverde’s Olympiacos looked to stamp their ticket into the round. It took them a bit of time, however, as PAOK’s pesky defending forced extra time in ‘Limani’.

The wait was over when Matt Derbyshire headed home a misguided effort from Galletti. The young Englishman was an early second-half substitute for Christos Patsatzoglou, but his presence wasn’t felt until the on-loan Blackburn Rovers forward imposed his name on the scoreboard on one-hundred and eight minutes.

There was no comeback for PAOK as Olympiacos clamped down in defense; derailing the promising bid from PAOK to reach the semi-finals.

With the win, Olympiacos sets up a semi-final meeting with Asteras Tripolis, while Panserraikos’ fairy tale run continues with another visit to the OAKA Spyros Louis Stadium to take on AEK.