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In a match that had a penalty, players sent off, and four goals, AEK and Panathinaikos took a point each in a 2-2 draw at Nea Smyrni. Takis Fyssas and Sotiris Kyrgiakos scored the two goals for Panathinaikos and Grigoris Georgatos scored both goals for AEK. The main attraction unfortunately for the game was Makis Efthimiadis.
The match started with Dusan Bajevic setting up his team in a classic 4-4-2 with Ivic and Okkas up front. Itzhak Shum had a surprise in the starting lineup as he started Jan Michaelsen in his second official game this year (his only other appearance was against Niki Volou). In the first 15 minutes of the game despite a quick pace to the game there were no real big chances for either team. In the 16th minute Georgatos was on a counter-attack with two of his teammates against Kyrgiakos and Chalkias but he did not manage to control the ball well and Kyrgiakos cleared just in time. The next time down the field Kyrgiakos became the man of the hour when Sanmartean executed a free kick which went to Kyrgiakos who did not miss from close range and at the same time sent Panathinaikos' 3,000 fans into a frenzy. In the next few minutes Tsartas tried to create some chances for Ivic and Okkas with nothing coming of it and the next big chance was for the greens who scored once again from close range, this time with Takis Fyssas being the goal scorer. AEK complained about an offensive foul on the play but that was not the case on that play. AEK did finish off the half strong. Firstly, Zutautas had a shot blocked by Chiotis who got his finger tips on a strong shot and sent it to a corner. Seconds later Georgatos was found open in the box by a wonderful ball from Borbokis and Georgatos shot and scored on Chalkias making it 1-2 in the 43' minute. Panathinaikos complained about an offside on the play but that was not the case. To make things even worse for the greens, Giourkas Seitaridis got two yellow cards in a three minute time span one for complaining for the offside and the second for a tackle on Georgatos. Efthimiadis could have easily not given the second yellow card since on three occasions by Georgeas, Katsouranis, and Zutautas there were harder fouls committed but they were not booked by the referee. After the whole commotion the first half came to end. The second half started with Shum making a necessary substitution and brought Nasif Morris into the game for Papadopoulos. AEK came into the half determined to score a goal and with Georgatos leading the way they pressured Panathinaikos' defense for long stretches. Chalkias was in the right place at the right time in two good chances for AEK early in the half and it was Panathinaikos who almost scored first in the 55' minute. Sanmartean took a free kick which hit the wall and Zutautas took another strong shot on goal only to be saved to a corner by Chiotis. From the 55' minute up until the 80' minute AEK had the majority of the possession but did not really threaten the PAO defense. Ten minutes before the end of the game both teams asked for a penalty each. Henriksen took down Moras in the box and Sanmartean was also taken down by Kostenoglou but Efthimiadis said to play on. The same thing did not happen in the 82' minute when Kyrgiakos took down Nalitzis and Efthimiadis showed the penalty spot. Tsartas got ready and took the penalty kick only to have it blocked by Chalkias!!! At the point where it looked like Kostas Chalkias was going to become the man of the match came a tragic mistake from the Panathinaikos goalkeeper. In the 88' minute Georgatos came from the left and took a shot from a bad angle and caught Chalkias in bad position who blocked the ball into his own net. The final three minutes of the game had nothing worth mentioning and that sent both teams into the locker room with a 2-2 draw. Itzhak Shum had this to say following the match: "The final score of 2-2 leaves me satisfied. Every game is important and has its own difficulties and sometimes things don't go the way you expect them to go. Despite the 5-0 loss to Manchester United we came back and found ourselves. We took a 2-0 lead and some bad moments made us change the way we were playing and that cost us the win." When asked about Seitaridis' ejection from the game, Shum said: "Those kinds of reactions upset me. I hope it doesn't happen again." Yellow Cards: Fyssas, Konstantinou, Morris, Zutautas Red Cards: Seitaridis 45' (43' + 44'). Panathinaikos: Chalkias, Fyssas, Seitaridis, Henriksen, Kyrgiakos, Zutautas, Maric, Michaelsen (74' Konstantinidis), Sanmartean (80' Goumas), Papadopoulos (46' Morris), Konstantinou.September 21, 2003 |
