AEK, PAOK suffer home upsets as Reds and Greens march on

An eventful weekend in the Super League saw AEK and PAOK drop points at home and Panathinaikos come from behind to win on the road, while Olympiakos strolled to its 10th win in as many games.

The Reds had an easy return to the league following their 2-1 win over Dinamo Zagreb for the Champions League on Wednesday, downing visiting Iraklis 2-0 on Sunday.

Luka Milivojevic and Brown Ideye were on target for Olympiakos, that seemed to save its strength for the big game that is coming up in two weeks’ time, at Panathinaikos.

The Greens trailed Atromitos 1-0 due to a Stefano Napoleoni strike, but had Nikos Karelis and Marcus Berg switch between provider and scorer. They both entered the scoresheet to gift Panathinaikos a 2-1 win at Peristeri and keep the distance from Olympiakos to eight points.

Despite its win, Panathinaikos was angry with the referee of the game. “The league [title] will be determined in court. It is not possible for it to be determined in the stadiums, there is no such chance,” said Panathinaikos president Yiannis Alafouzos on Sunday, at the presentation of new coach, Italian Andrea Stramaccioni.

Panionios leapt to third downing Platanias Hanion 2-1 at home, bringing its tally to 19 points in 10 games.

Asteras Tripolis is now fourth, leaving AEK in fifth after beating it 1-0 in Athens courtesy of a late Dimitris Papadopoulos goal. AEK was left with 10 men from the first-half injury time.

PAOK and Panthrakikos shared an exciting 3-3 draw in Thessaloniki, that has left PAOK in sixth and coach Igor Tudor in doubt about his job security.

In other games Kalloni Lesvou drew 2-2 with Xanthi, and Levadiakos drew 1-1 with Veria. On Monday Panetolikos hosts PAS Giannina in the derby of western Greece.

Notably all top five scorers in the league are Greek: They are Costas Fortounis (Olympiakos), Apostolos Giannou (Asteras Tripolis), Vangelis Mantzios (Levadiakos), Karelis (Panathinaikos) and Tasos Bakasetas (Panionios).