Olympiakos and AEK set up an appetizing Cup final

AEK and Olympiakos will fight it out for the Greek Cup in next month’s final, after eclipsing their Thessaloniki rivals in Wednesday’s semifinals.

Olympiakos beat holder PAOK 2-0 in the second leg at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium to win the tie 4-3, three-and-a-half months after its first-leg 3-2 defeat at Toumba.

The Reds had to wait until the 65th to open the score, with Giorgos Masouras, in a very entertaining second half reminiscent of soccer before the pandemic.

Twenty minutes later Mady Camara sealed qualification for Olympiakos scoring from a Costas Fortounis pass.

Omar El Kaddouri received his marching orders on the 93rd minute, leaving PAOK with 10 men at the end.

The final to be played at the Olympic Stadium of Athens, probably on July 24, will be the first for Olympiakos in four years.

In Thessaloniki AEK scored in injury time to escape elimination, and went on to snatch the ticket to the final in extra time at Aris with a 2-2 result.

After a 2-1 loss at the first leg in Athens, Aris sought just one goal that would see it advance to the final, and found it just before the hour mark with Daniel Mancini. The match went on with AEK unable to respond, and Nicolas Diguiny made it 2-0 three minutes into the time added-on.

However Marko Livaja, who until then had a rather mediocre game, scored on the 96th minute to match the score of the first leg, and scored again in extra time to give AEK a place in the final.

The Athens team ended the game deliberately with eight players, as Petros Mantalos, Simoes and Nelson Oliveira received their second bookings so as not to miss the final; their red cards will see them lose the next league game instead.

Also on Wednesday Xanthi defeated Atromitos 1-0 for the Super League playouts to emerge from the drop zone.