Ioannidis showed the way for Panathinaikos when Olympiakos were penalized at Karaiskakis

By Andreas Mitsis

                          Ioannidis sank Olympiakos with his two goals at Karaiskakis.

The derby between eternal rivals Olympiakos and Panathinaikos ended in a green victory with 1-3 at Karaiskakis. An emphatic win for the Greens from the capital as the three points seriously take them back into contention for the league title. Fotis Ioannidis was the evening's protagonist.

On Olympiakos' 99th birthday, bitter arch-rivals Panathinaikos managed to spoil the party for the big club from Piraeus by leaving Karaiskakis with three very heavy points in the opening round of the playoffs. The Greens won the derby 1-3 and the victory means that Panathinaikos is once again seriously involved in the fight for the league title. 

Olympiakos and coach José Luis Mendilibar opted to move away from their 4-3-3 system in favour of a 4-4-2 system in the derby. Early in the match, the away team was forced to change goalkeepers when Bartlomiej Dragowski had to go out injured. The home team would then take the lead after a little more than 20 minutes played when Daniel Podence fired a cannon from a distance that found its way over the crossbar. 

The goal was reminiscent of the one the skilled Portuguese scored against PAOK at Toumba the other week. A couple of minutes before the half-time break, Tasos Bakasetas equalized when he distinctly took advantage of a questionable clearance. In first-half stoppage time after elegant short passing from Panathinaikos, Fotis Ioannidis made it 1-2 when he latched on to a rebound from Alexandros Paschalakis. The guests could therefore go to the break with the management.

In the second half, Olympiakos continued to have most of the ball possession, while Panathinaikos defended relatively compactly and waited for their chances to strike through conversions. In the 70th minute, the derby was punctuated when talented Bernard served the 24-year-old national team striker Ioannidis to make it 1-3. The match ended with some disturbances between both teams' players out on the pitch.

Mendilibar read the match wrong and in this case has a lesson to learn. In a way, the honeymoon is over. The defence was once again vulnerable. Among other things, Olympiakos' defence has a very difficult time taking care of second balls, rebounds and being defensively alert. Mainly in the second half, Panathinaikos copied Maccabi Tel Aviv's tactics against Olympiakos last week and it paid off. When the trefoil has been a bit with its back against the wall, there has usually been a reaction, so even strongly enough to Karaiskakis of Fatih Terim's crew. 

Best for Panathinaikos was the trio of Ioannidis, Bernard and cage keeper Yuri Lodygin who deserve credit for his dive between the posts. Ioannidis showed off his increasingly wide attacking repertoire. For example, great in the pressing game, an impressive physique and this evening was also clinical in terms of finishing. 

Olympiakos has a really tough week behind it. They are also in the middle of the round of 16 of the Europa Conference League. The team fell the same way against Panathinaikos in the first meeting against Maccabi Tel Aviv at home at Karaiskakis. A shame considering that the last month's efforts against e.g. 

Ferencvaros and PAOK in the league created a justified optimism. However, balance is key on all fronts. The team was unfocused, almost as if the match against Panathinaikos was also on the retina. Current Olympiakos is in practice a team built in the last five weeks by new coach Mendilibar with a series of acquisitions that arrived in January, which in this particular match and against Panathinaikos became visible. 

The Israeli spectre, as well as the round of 16 spectres in general for Olympiakos, thus looks set to continue as the return to neutral ground in Serbia will be incredibly difficult to reverse. However, owner Vangelis Marinakis has shown his determination that the experienced Spaniard will continue to lead the team next season as well, as he sat down with Mendilibar shortly after the match against Maccabi and was clear that he wanted to renew the contract for next season as well. Something Mendilibar himself was also positive about. Nothing is public yet, but there is thus a verbal agreement between the parties to continue cooperation also until 2024-25.

***

Panathinaikos' strong start to the playoffs gives them air under their wings. However, AEK was the big winner of the round. The reigning champions had no problem masterfully beating back Lamia away from home with 0-4. Two of the goals were scored by Levi García, one of which was a dream goal after a fantastic individual performance. 

PAOK have had a tough time recently and the white-blacks would also get that in the Thessaloniki derby at home against Aris. Their city rivals took home the meeting with 0-1 after a goal by a formidable Loren Morón. The Spaniard is huge this season for Aris and their attack. Strong of Aris to take home three points, which also shows that they can play a big role in the overall outcome of the playoffs. 

Just days before the Thessaloniki derby, PAOK also lost in Zagreb against Dinamo in the first round of the Conference League. The Croatians won 2-0 and the difference in the match was broadly that Dinamo had a striker of quality in Bruno Petkovic, unlike PAOK who lacked a really quality spearhead but instead had been well placed on e.g. the offensive midfield positions.  

AEK tops the table with 62 points, PAOK second with 60, Panathinaikos third with 59 and Olympiakos fourth with 57 recorded points. Aris is fifth on 45 points while Lamia parks itself in sixth place with 46 points. The playoffs now take a break for a couple of weeks and are back again with round two on the last weekend in March. However, the playout starts next weekend.