SPORTS

PAOK inflicts another blow on Olympiakos

Olympiakos’s mathematical clinching of the Greek title was postponed for one more week as the Reds conceded a 2-1 defeat to challenger PAOK at Thessaloniki on Sunday.

League defeats for Olympiakos appear to be like London buses: You wait for ages for one, and then two arrive one after the other. Just one week after the 3-0 home loss to Panathinaikos at the Derby of Eternal Rivals, the Reds suffered their second reverse of the season following another mediocre performance.

Greece left-back Giorgos Tzavellas gave the Thessaloniki giant all three points with his long-range shot six minutes from the end at Toumba stadium. The first half had ended 1-1 after Andreas Samaris gave the Reds a 33rd-minute lead only for Stefanos Athanasiadis to equalize three minutes later, in PAOK’s first game after the departure of coach Huub Stevens.

The result means that PAOK and Atromitos are tied in second, 16 points behind Olympiakos, with six rounds of games left to play in the Super League’s regular season.

Atromitos produced an emphatic display earlier on Sunday to dismiss visiting Panionios 4-0 with a brace by Greece striker Dimitris Papadopoulos and goals by Vangelis Nastos and Javier Umbides.

On Saturday fourth-placed Panathinaikos built on its derby win six days earlier, thrashing bottom club Aris 4-1 at home. Sweden striker Marcus Berg scored a hat trick and was also involved in the fourth goal by Viktor Klonaridis.

Before the start of the game Panathinaikos honored in front of a capacity crowd at the Apostolos Nikolaidis stadium the players of the club’s team who won the league undefeated 50 years ago, in 1963-64. That was the only team to have ever won the Greek league without a single loss.

Asteras Tripolis, in fifth, scored a 1-0 win at Xanthi, while a few kilometers away at Komotini local Panthrakikos beat Ergotelis 2-1 to rise to the sixth spot of the table.

Apollon Smyrnis registered a precious 3-1 victory at home over fellow struggling Platanias Hanion and steered clear of the drop zone. OFI and PAS Giannina shared a 1-1 draw, while Levadiakos scored two injury-time goals to reverse the 1-0 lead Panetolikos had at Livadia and win 2-1.

On Monday Kalloni Lesvou hosts Veria.

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