Panathinaikos wins Athens derby against AEK
Youssef El Arabi scored a hat-trick to see Olympiakos alone on top of the Super League table after its win over Volos, but it was Panathinaikos that stole the weekend’s show with its Athens derby win over AEK on Sunday.
The Greens beat AEK 2-1 away to climb to the fifth spot with 15 points from 11 games, four shy of its Athens rival, thanks to goals by Federico Macheda and Dimitris Kourbelis. Nelson Oliveria scored fourth-placed AEK’s late consolation.
Olympiakos found itself trail visiting Volos on Saturday, from a Jean Barrientos penalty kick, but equalized before half-time with Giorgos Massouras. Then El Arabi scored a second-half hat trick to top the scorers’ chart with eight goals.
The Reds have 25 points from nine games, with PAOK in second having 24 from 10 games after downing Asteras Tripolis 2-0 on Sunday in Thessaloniki. Its second-half goals came from Christos Tzolis and Andrija Zivkovic.
Aris stands third, a further point behind, after a brave fightback at Peristeri that saw it turn a 2-0 deficit to Atromitos into a 2-2 draw having only 10 men for about an hour.
In the weekend’s other games, Apollon Smyrnis upset host OFI 2-0 on Crete and PAS Giannina overcame bottom team Lamia 2-0.
On Monday Panetolikos meets Larissa.
