Title triumph for Olympiakos after three years
Olympiakos clinched on Sunday its 45th league title in Greek soccer, the first in the last three years, after defeating AEK 2-1 away. PAOK now has the edge over AEK in the battle for second, with the two sides meeting on Wednesday.
Pending a decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, due next month, about the deduction of seven points from PAOK, the Reds have opened a 19-point advantage over PAOK with six games left to play in the Super League playoffs.
AEK and Olympiakos, who will meet again next month at the Greek Cup Final, played an entertaining match at the Olympic Stadium of Athens, each enjoying superiority for about 45 minutes.
The Reds were on top after the first half with goals from Youssef El-Arabi and Mady Camara, with AEK pulling one back in the second half courtesy of Sergio Araujo.
Olympiakos is on 78 points, PAOK has 59 and AEK is on 56, after PAOK defeated crosstown rival Aris 2-0 on the road on Sunday. The outgoing champion scored late in the first half via Gustavo Varela and Karol Swiderski.
In the other match for the playoffs OFI and Panathinaikos played out a goalless draw on Saturday.
In the playouts bottom team Panionios scored a precious 2-1 win over visiting Xanthi on Saturday to edge even closer to safety, as Panetolikos drew 1-1 at home with Asteras Tripolis on Sunday.
Xanthi and Panetolikos are on 22 points and Panionios on 21. One of those will go down to the second division, to be replaced by PAS Giannina, while the second-bottom team is supposed to face a relegation playoff with the Super League runner-up club, Apollon Smyrnis.
On Monday Volos plays Lamia and Atromitos greets Larissa.
