Larissa Conquerors of Greece Part 2

Larissa Conquerors of Greece Part 2

The Miracle of 88

By Stephen Kountourou

Throughout the years of AEL Larissa's golden era, one of the clubs greatest successes was the production of their youth academy. In the ten year period between their promotion back to the Alpha Ethniki in 1978, to their shock title victory in 1988, the development of their home grown talent, from either the Larissa academy or the surrounding clubs in the reign and integrating these players into the first team, was a huge reason for the most exciting and trophy laden era in the history of the club. Local talent, such as Mitsibonas, Karapialis, Tsiolis, Valaoras, Ziogas, Kolomitrousis, Agorogiannis came from the city of Larissa with these players understanding the importance of playing for the club from a young age. Polish manager Jacek Gmoch, having previously managed Larissa in the early 1980s, then went on to manage two title winning sides in the middle of the decade, one with Panathinaikos and other with AEK Athens, before returning to Larissa in 1986. It was in Thessaly where he would have his biggest managerial achievement, master minding a famous title win for the crimsons. 

At first it seemed as though Larissa had hit its peak. Between their tremendous cup win in 1985 until 987, performances in the league, while not sub par, did not hit the heights of the previous two campaigns as the club were resigned to mid table finishes. Even their second consecutive entrance into the UEFA Cup Winners Cup, did not reach the same altitude as their quarter finals run the previous season, with the crimsons leaving the competitions in the first round after losing to Italian side Sampdoria on aggregate. You could be mistaken in thinking that Larissa and their talented team of academy products, along with their already seasoned Polish manager, had resigned themselves to becoming an Alpha Ethniki main stay in mid table mediocrity. But then the 1987/88 season came and that was when everything changed for the Thessaly club. With the dominance of Olympiakos, who had won their 25th title by ten points the previous season, many expected them, Panathinaikos, AEK, PAOK and even surprise title chasers the previous season OFI Crete to make a race for supremacy the next season. They could not have envisaged that there was a sixth and even more surprising title contender in their midst, who would go all the way and beat them at their own beautiful game.

The first match for Larissa would be a reflection of what was to come for them and their opponents Olympiakos, as the crimsons pulled off a high 3-1 win, beating the champions in front of their home fans. The first half of the season would be much the same as Larissa would go on to win ten of their first twelve fixtures, including huge wins against OFI and Panathinaikos, drawing once and losing most notably to their closest title rivals AEK Athens away in the capital. 

However as is the case in Greek football, controversy reared its ugly head for the surprise title chasers. Their young Bulgarian forward Georgi Tsingov, tested positive for the use of codeine, after the match against Panathinaikos in December, which led to the Greek Football Federation deducting four points from Larissa which briefly put AEK at the top of the table. After a week of ongoing negotiations, with protests from the people of Larissa, holding banners in the square, closing shops, burning cars and blocking the highway and railway tracks, the EPO finally came to the decision to reverse the points deductions on Larissa, citing them as not being involved with the initial doping of the player. Their fans could breathe a sigh of relief as they returned to the top of the table. 

As the league season reached the halfway point, Larissa's form start to dip some what, with the side going winless away from home losing to Iraklis and OFI in the process, After 3 months without a win on the road, they finally mustered a victory against Panionios in Nea Smyrni. Their home form however continued to be the saving grace for the Thessalians as they continued to beat the likes of Panthinaikos and AEK in their fortress, the Alcazar Stadium. As the end of this incredible season was in sight, Larissa's momentum continued to increase as they brushed aside the competition towards the clubs first ever title. With both Olympiakos and Panathinaikos being very sub par for their titanic standards, only AEK and PAOK were consistently able to keep up with the crimsons throughout the campaign and ran Larissa close all the way until the end of the season. 

Despite losses to both Levadiakos and Panathinaikos with the latter smashing them 4-1 Larissa recovered with a 3-0 win against Ethnikos Piraeus before going into the last home match of the season against Iraklis. A win would see them crowned champions, and a loss would see AEK going top ahead of the last game of the season with PAOK lying in wait and the title race firmly out of their hands. It was a nervy start to the game with Larissa needing an early goal to ease tensions in the crowd and the players. They went into halftime against Iralkis still deadlocked at 0-0. 45 minutes to wrap up the title or see themselves settle for another 2nd place finish just like in 1983.

The second half began with neither side able to break the other one down and at the last few minutes of the game with the score still level and AEK winning away to OFI in Crete, it looked as though Larissa title dreams were about to be almost over. In the 86th minute, came Larissa's potential last chance of the game and the title. A cross was swung on the right hand side of the Iraklis box, which deflected off of an Iraklis player and was then flew into the air. Alexoulis headed it back into the box with defender Georgios Mitsibonas, making perfect contact with the ball to his foot and volleying it spectacularly past the keeper, mercifully putting the crimsons 1-0 up and sending their fans wild. With a few minutes left AEL Larissa were able to hold on to see themselves win the most important match in their history. One which would crown them champions and see this club, that had only been formed 24 years prior, conquer Greek football. It is also worth noting that, with this win against Iraklis, Larissa finished the season undefeated at home another huge feat for the club. 

Goal scorer Georgios Mitsibanos and his team mates would become legends in their hometown as well as in all of Greece. The fans invaded the pitch at the end of the game and the reign of Thessaly could celebrate that, the combining of those small clubs all those years ago, had created incredible footballing moments and memories. The very next day, Jacek Gmoch, the man who had guided his time to an incredible title win, suddenly left the club. After it was announced he had signed with Olympiakos, who had finished a lowly 8th place that season, he was sacked by Larissa and was not present for the final game of the season. With the title already wrapped up, Horacio Morales took charge of a 0-0 draw with PAOK, as the players and fans of Larissa celebrated their title win.

In the years that followed, after the golden era was well and truly over, the players that had made this club's historical achievement a reality, had all retired or left for other clubs in Greece, Larissa still to this day finds themselves in the Superleague. After multiple relegations all the way down to amateur football, once in the mid late 1990s and again in the early 2010s, another Greek Cup triumph in 2007, followed by a brief but exciting adventure into the UEFA Cup. A buy out by a football administrator, Alexis Kougias, who at first was not the choice of the fans of the Thessaly but took them back to the first tier and moved the team to a new state of the art, near 17,000 capacity stadium known as the AEL FC Arena. Now, as a solid mid table side in Greece once more and many neutrals favour the club domestically and around the world, Larissa fans can still remember, share and celebrate fondly, the season they took the league by storm. When their side of talented homegrown heroes conquered Greece.

Hellas Football.