Green triumph in the Athens soccer derby
Panathinaikos scored three goals in 13 minutes to beat AEK 3-0, while Ionikos contained PAOK at Toumba for a 1-1 result on Sunday in the Super League in a game that gave a strong message for peace.
The Greens scored their first derby win this season, but it was worth the wait as they did with plenty of emphasis, in a game they could have easily scored twice as many time. Aitor, Sebastian Palacios and Fotis Ioannidis were on target for the hosts at the Apostolos Nikolaidis stadium, all goals coming in the first half-hour of the game.
Panathinaikos is therefore three points behind third AEK and 10 behind second-placed PAOK that drew with Ionikos three days after entering the last 16 of the Europa Conference League. Stefan Schwab gave the Thessaloniki hosts a first-half lead, but Ionikos leveled things up with Thuram to snatch a precious point.
When Ionikos scored, its players, led by Ukrainian Dmytro Chygrynskiy, celebrated brandishing the Ukrainian flag. The home fans of PAOK, a club owned by a former member of the Russian parliament, Ivan Savvidis, broke into a very warm round of applause in response.
Leader Olympiakos was dominant against OFI Crete and won 2-0 in Piraeus courtesy of a goal from Garry Rodrigues and an own goal by Fiorin Durmishaj.
On Saturday Aris beat Asteras Tripolis 2-0 and Panetolikos shared a goalless draw with Volos.
There are two matches scheduled for Monday, as Apollon Smyrnis greets Atromitos in an all-important relegation battle, and PAS Giannina greets Lamia.
