AEK all but won the league as Olympiakos denies Panathinaikos
AEK is one point away from clinching the Super League title as Covid-stricken Panathinaikos lost at Olympiakos to drop from the top one game before the end.
AEK had to come from behind to win 2-1 at Aris on Monday, with the penultimate round of the playoffs being postponed by 24 hours due to dozens of Covid cases at the Panathinaikos camp.
Aris took the lead early on in Thessaloniki through Andre Gray’s penalty kick, but AEK managed to turn things around before half-time through goals by Tom van Veert and Steven Zuber.
At the end of the game all AEK players had gathered at the center of the pitch at the “Kleanthis Vikelidis” stadium to listen to what was happening in Piraeus, and soon erupted into wild celebrations, knowing that the title is all but mathematically theirs, for the first time in five years.
That was because Olympiakos finally managed to break Panathinaikos’ resistance after seven Eternal Rivals’ derbies without a win for the Reds, ending the Greens’ dreams of a championship title that has remained elusive for 13 seasons.
The Piraeus team won 1-0 at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, in front of empty stands too, against a Panathinaikos that had everything to play for but had 17 players affected by the coronavirus in recent days. The Reds scored via Oleg Reabciuk and held on for all three points.
In the third game of the night PAOK sailed through Volos with goals from Andrija Zivkovic and Brandon Thomas.
AEK has 80 points, Panathinaikos 77, Olympiakos 70, PAOK 67, Aris 50 and Volos 40.
In the last round of games on Sunday, May 14, AEK hosts Volos, Panathinaikos entertains Aris and PAOK clashes with Olympiakos.
In the playouts Levadiakos has been relegated after conceding a late equalizer at Lamia (1-1) on Saturday. Ionikos still harbors hopes of staying up after collecting a point at OFI (2-2), but must beat Lamia in next Saturday’s last round of games when the two struggling sides meet in Nikaia.
In other matches PAS Giannina saw off Asteras Tripolis 1-0 and Atromitos defeated Panetolikos 2-0.
