Green triumph in the Eternal Derby

Panathinaikos ended on Sunday Olympiakos’ unbeaten record in domestic competitions this year with a well crafted 2-1 win in the Derby of Eternal Rivals, though this has had little effect on the position of the Reds at the top of the table, with Aris also dropping points.

Panathinaikos (in 1964) and PAOK (in 2019) are the sole clubs to have won the league unbeaten in the history of Greek soccer, and it was down to the Greens to ensure archrival Olympiakos would not join this elite group. And they did.

They surprised their visitors at the historic Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium from the sixth minute with a Mauricio header that hit the target, and held on to this lead with their tight defense for more than an hour until new signing Younnousse Sankhare scored his second goal in a week to double the Greens’ lead on the 73rd. All the Reds could do was to reduce their arrears eight minutes from the end through Youssef El-Arabi.

Olympiakos has therefore stayed on 57 points from 22 games and will definitely top the table at the end of the regular season, while Panathinaikos – that has extended its own unbeaten run to nine games – has temporarily moved up to third as neither AEK nor PAOK were in action on Sunday.

The match between Larissa and AEK was postponed on Sunday due to the icy pitch at the Alkazar Stadium that is also unlikely to clear for Monday evening.

PAOK is scheduled to face host PAS Giannina on Monday in a game that has been moved to Atromitos’ home at Peristeri due to the poor condition of the pitch at Ioannina.

Second-placed Aris moved up to 43 points after drawing a blank against Panetolikos (0-0) in Thessaloniki on Sunday. Sixth Asteras Tripolis also ended goalless at home with Lamia on Saturday.

Volos has moved up to seventh thanks to a 2-1 win at OFI, leaving Atromitos in eighth after the Peristeri club went down 2-1 at Apollon Smyrnis.