Lamia dismantles Panathinaikos in the Cup
Lamia thrashed Panathinaikos 4-1 on its frozen pitch and is the huge favorite for a major upset in the Greek Cup, while the tournament’s favorites had a smooth ride in the first leg of the round of 16 in midweek.
On a snowed-over surface that was hardly playable on Thursday, host Lamia made the most of its few chances and the poor refereeing to score an historic result against the Athens giant that is undergoing its biggest ever crisis. Spanish midfielder Piti scored twice and Thanasis Panteliadis and Marko Blazic had one goal each, while the goal by Guillermo Molins has saved some hope for the second leg for Panathinaikos. Dimitris Kourbelis had a good goal disallowed for Panathinaikos.
Holder PAOK was troubled only in the first half at second-division Trikala before triumphing 5-1 on Tuesday, goals coming from Leo Matos (twice), Diego Biseswar, Djalma Campos and Yevhen Shakhov. Xenofon Panos had temporarily equalized for the host.
Last year’s finalist AEK produced an emphatic 4-0 win at Panetolikos on Wednesday, courtesy of goals by Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, Tasos Bakasetas, Rodrigo Galo and Giorgos Yiakoumakis. Earlier in the day Olympiakos had defeated Platanias 2-0 at Hania thanks to scorers Alberto Botia and Karim Ansarifard.
In other first-leg games, Atromitos beat Asteras 1-0 at Tripoli, Panionios downed second-division OFI 2-0, Levadiakos scored a late goal to beat PAS Giannina 1-0 and Larissa enjoyed a 3-0 home win over Xanthi.
The return legs are scheduled for January 9-11.
