Kurtic’s late brace sinks Panathinaikos
Olympiakos opens three-point gap at the top of the table as AEK draws
Olympiakos has opened a three-point lead at the top over AEK ahead of their meeting in the next round of Super League games, but it was PAOK that scored the most meaningful win on Sunday, beating Panathinaikos in Athens.
At the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, an early goal by ever-improving Giorgos Massouras granted the Reds a 1-0 home win over Ionikos Nikaias on Sunday.
Olympiakos is now on 23 points from nine games, while AEK, on 20, dropped two when it drew 2-2 at Apollon on Saturday. Levi Garcia gave AEK the lead, Nikos Ioannidis and Giorgos Pamlidis turned things around for Apollon, before Sergio Araujo snatched an equalizer for the visitors.
Slovenian Jasmin Kurtic scored two goals after the 84th minute to give PAOK a 3-1 triumph at Panathinaikos’s Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, that was packed with home fans.
Chuba Akpom gave PAOK a first-half advantage, former PAOK midfielder Mauricio equalized for the Greens before two set pieces – a penalty and a free kick – by Kurtic gave PAOK all three points to take its tally to 19. Panathinaikos has sunk to eighth.
The worst of the weekend was at Volos, as some 2,000 fans of visiting Aris traveled to the game even though there is a ban on away fans due to Covid. They clashed with police outside the stadium, and when players themselves started fighting each other 12 minutes into the game, leading to two red cards, several away fans made their way toward the VIP stands of the Panthessaliko Stadium, clashing once again with riot police.
The match was temporarily suspended and resumed after almost an hour, with Aris winning 2-1.
Lamia upset Asteras Tripolis on Sunday with 1-0 score, while PAS Giannina returned to the top five with a 3-0 defeat of Panetolikos at home. OFI had no problems in Iraklio against bottom team Atromitos, winning 2-0.
