Panathinaikos out to restore Greek pride

By: Peter Katsiris | October 1st, 2008

The UEFA Champions League Group Stage resumes for Panathinaikos on Wednesday night with an encounter with Anorthosis Famagusta on the agenda for the Greek club. After a 2-0 loss at home to group leaders Inter Milan, Panathinaikos will be looking for a fresh start away from home on matchday 2. Meanwhile, Anorthosis will look to their qualifying campaign for inspiration. After ousting Olympiacos in the round preceding the group stages, the Cypriot Champions will look to duplicate the feat against Panathinaikos.

It was a night of mixed fortunes for the two clubs destined to meet Wednesday evening. Panathinaikos suffered a heartbreaking loss to Inter Milan in front of a large crowd at the OAKA Spyro Louis Stadium in Athens. Anorthosis held off Werder Bremen at the Weser Stadion to muster a 0-0 draw with their German opponents.

With Panathinaikos making the trip South, many are hesitant to rely on the favourites, that being the visitors, to succeed in Larnaca. After their biggest rivals, Olympiacos and AEK, fell to Cypriot opposition, Panathinaikos could be vulnerable to do the same. However, Panathinaikos manager Henk Ten Cate seems set on a strategy to overcome Anorthosis. “Anorthosis are a better team without the ball than with the ball,” said the Dutch manager. “I saw them in their last league game and they only managed to score after sitting back and taking advantage of a mistake by the opposition. They are a team renowned for waiting, waiting and waiting. They are a dangerous counterattacking side and we need to be cautious.”

“The first two goals came out of nothing,” he said. “Before they scored, it was all Olympiacos, but that just goes to show what a dangerous counterattacking side they are,” concluded Ten Cate.

Realizing the threat is the first step; the second will be execution in a match with high stakes. Both clubs will need a good result to keep pace with the leaders of the group, but the task at hand for Panathinaikos will be even harder with several absences leaving gaps in the team. One of the most notable absentees is Greece international Georgios Karagounis. After a speedy return to fitness, Karagounis went down to injury again in his club’s fixture with Inter Milan. Forcing the inspirational midfielder out until mid-October, Karagounis joins Evangelos Mantzios (appendix), and Christos Melissis (flu), on the sidelines.

The home side continues to live in the luxuries of Champions League firsts. Matchday 1 marked the club’s first ever group sage match, while Wednesday will be another landmark night for the ‘Megali Kyria’. Welcoming Panathinaikos, Anorthosis will host its first home fixture in the group stage; a feat that excites head coach Timur Ketsbaia. “This is a historic moment – our first group-stage game in Cyprus,” Ketsbaia said. “We showed in our first group game that we have ability and we want to show that our participation in the group stage is no fluke. Judging by the result of our first game, we have shown that the team can climb even higher.”

The man pulling the strings for the minnows notes the tilt with the Greek giants will be another high hurdle to overcome. “It will be a very hard game but we are used to that now,” said Ketsbaia. “Our previous matches in Europe have also been hard but we prevailed because we have a strong squad with good players. We will need to show those qualities if we want to beat Panathinaikos.”

An injury-free Anorthosis will take to the pitch on Wednesday, but the long list of veterans will have plenty of responsibilities if Anorthosis are to continue Cyprus’ string of defeats over Greek clubs. The reigns of the defense lie in the hands of Greece international Traianos Dellas. After leaving Athenian giants AEK, the center back has been a leader in Cyprus, making starts in all but one of Anorthosis’ competitive fixtures.