Heavy victory at Toumba for Olympiakos

By Andreas Mitsis

Chiquinho was responsible for two goal-scoring performances at Toumba.

In a wonderful event between PAOK and Olympiakos, the big club from Piraeus was able to leave Thessaloniki victorious with a 2-3 victory in the bag. Aris, AEK and Olympiakos top the table where all three stand on 21 recorded points after 11 league rounds.

The match that stood out during the weekend's 11th league round was the one between PAOK and Olympiakos on Sunday evening (10/11) at Toumba in Thessaloniki. PAOK arrived at the summit from a respectable 2-0 loss to Man Utd in the Europa League earlier this week. 

The reigning UEFA Europa Conference League champions Olympiakos in turn also came from play in EL where it was 1-1 at home against Rangers. Thus, the conditions were similar in that respect. Despite the slightly worn teams, we got to see a really great match at a high pace. One of the best so far this season in the league. Olympiakos drew the longest straw and got a heavy 2-3 victory from Toumba.

The scoring began after a little more than half an hour played when 17-year-old promise Babis Kostoulas elegantly headed in 0-1 on a pass from Chiquinho. It was the own product's first A team goal and Kostoulas celebrated by imitating his idol as well as club legend Youssef El-Arabi's patented goal gesture. 

The goal also made him the youngest goalscorer of all time for Olympiakos in the Alpha Ethniki/Super League context. 0-1 at the break where Olympiakos' pressing game was effective and they also won a lot of second balls against PAOK in an otherwise even half. 

The away team then also got a dream start in the second half when Gelson Martins nicely served the deep-running goal machine Ayoub El Kaabi to 0-2. However, PAOK would respond relatively immediately when goal-dangerous left-back Baba Rahman carefully stayed in front to score the reduction. 

1-2 would become 1-3 moments later when Chiquinho was again responsible for an assist when the Portuguese served compatriot Gelson Martins. The 29-year-old whirlwind put the ball past Dominik Kotarski. However, the home team responded again. 

Andrija Zivkovic's cross from the right wing was headed into an own goal by David Carmo. 2-3 was also the final result, [Highlights]. 

Olympiakos got the game pretty much where they wanted. PAOK is having a difficult period and the reigning league champions are without a win in six straight games, which is historically weak for the team. Best for Olympiakos was the attacking midfield trio.

Chiquinho made the difference with his open passes, Kostoulas was all over the place and tackled while Gelson Martins was exactly the whirlwind he can be with his technique and speed. In addition, this evening with the final product in the final offensive third. 

Among other things, PAOK had difficulties in their defensive transition game, which this trio was able to exploit. Busy position for coach Razvan Lucescu in PAOK where e.g. some players at the moment have mental locks while his colleague Jose Luis Mendilibar had a perfect end to this series of games before the national team break. 

Incidentally, as far as Olympiakos is concerned, owner Vangelis Marinakis has been in the spotlight for two different reasons during the previous week. The first reason is that he looks to be able to deal with Arsenal's now former sporting director Edu.

Going forward, Brassen is supposed to take on a role as CEO of all Marinakis owned clubs (Olympiakos, Nottingham, Rio Ave) and also get an important role in any new clubs (previously rumored to be Monza and now Vasco da Gama) that may be on the way to Marinaki's multi-club impierum. 

The second reason why there have been headlines around Marinakis is the ongoing feud with Ari's chairman/president Eirini Karypidis (sister of Thodoris) where both parties have taken each other to court. 

Karypidis accuses Marinakis of, among other things, match-fixing/attempted match-fixing and illegal shipping of Russian oil and more, while Marinakis in turn insists that she has run an extended smear campaign against him. Only a few years ago, both parties had a relatively good relationship that broke down and became seriously infected. 

The league round began on Saturday (9/11) with a real holm walk between the autumn's two big exclamation marks in the league, Panetolikos and Aris. The Agrinio club managed to defeat the visitors from Thessaloniki. 

The decisive 2-1 goal came after 100 minutes played when 22-year-old midfielder Christos Belevonis gave the home team the win. The match contained everything from several disallowed goals, a sending off and a dream goal by Manu García (another fantastic goal disallowed) and more. 

At Aris, Swedish goalkeeper Filip Sidklev made his debut between the posts in the absence of the injured Julian Cuesta. AEK masterfully beat back Asteras Tripolis. 3-0 ended the match after goals from Ehsan Hajisafi, Paolo Fernandes and Levi García. 

Prestige signing Anthony Martial gave his best performance in the AEK shirt since his arrival in September. Coach Matías Almeyda is increasingly finding his core of players to use in his packed squad. 

Panathinaikos went on Thursday (7/11) to a heavy loss on the plastic grass in Stockholm against Djurgården. A fairly good first half was followed by an outright lousy performance in the second half. The Greens must undeniably move up in the UECL in the closing rounds. 

In coach Rui Vitória's third match in charge of the team at home against Lamia, there was a victory yesterday Sunday (10/11). However, the win was well within reach despite playing with one man more for almost the entire second half. 

Substitute Tasos Bakasetas saved the greens with his hard-hitting free-kick. The hope is that the team will become more coordinated and begin to stand for better performances as time goes by under Vitória's management. The attacking star Fotis Ioannidis has been back from injury since last weekend and has shown tendencies towards desperation to be noted in the scoresheet again.

The table is what we have started to get used to, i.e. brutally tight at the top. Aris, AEK and Olympiakos all have 21 points at the top while PAOK and Panathinaikos shadow behind on 20 points recorded. Panetolikos is sixth on 18 points. 

At the bottom, Levadiakos took their first win of the season against Volos which lifted them away from the relegation places where Kalithea and Lamia currently find themselves. 

Club football now takes a final break for this calendar year when national team games resume. League football is back on the weekend of November 23-24 (with Olympiakos - AEK on the menu, among others) and the European Cup game with Olympiakos, PAOK and Panathinaikos participating in the EL/UECL is back to us on Thursday, November 28. 

 

Hellas Football

@Mitsaras87A