Olympiakos stretches its lead
An eventful soccer weekend saw Olympiakos consolidate its spot at the top, AEK’s coach offer his resignation and the fans of Larissa and Panathinaikos wreak havoc in the city in Thessaly. Round 10 of the Super League saw leader Olympiakos defeat second-placed PAOK 2-0 in Piraeus last night, thanks to a goal at the end of each half. Christos Patsatzoglou and Diogo were on the scoresheet for the Reds, who enjoyed a man’s advantage in the last few minutes after Uruguyan Pablo Garcia got a second yellow card, though he should have been ejected in the first half after punching Diogo in the stomach. AEK failed once again to win at home, drawing 0-0 with Panserraikos at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday, which led coach Giorgos Donis to state that he believes he has failed. His future on the AEK bench was being discussed last night, with him present, by the club’s main shareholders. Larissa and Panathinaikos shared a 1-1 draw, with goals coming from Maciej Zurawski for the hosts and Silva Cleyton for the visitors. However, the match was overshadowed by clashes between rival fans and with the police, leading to serious damage to the stadium and the city of Larissa as well as one person being treated for injuries. Iraklis scored its third win in a week, including beating Kastoria in the Cup on Thursday, and defeating Panionios 0-2 at Nea Smyrni in the debut of Takis Lemonis on the hosts’ bench. The week’s most impressive game was in Crete, where Thrasyvoulos snatched a 1-2 win over Ergotelis, thanks to an own goal in the sixth minute of injury time and after the hosts had missed a penalty and hit the woodwork before equalizing at 1-1. In other games, it was Levadiakos 2, OFI 1; Panthrakikos 0, Xanthi 0; and Aris 1, Asteras Tripolis 1, with the Tripolis side reportedly close to hiring Dusan Bajevic as manager. Olympiakos leads the standings with 23 points, with PAOK and Xanthi joint second at 19 points. Panathinaikos is fifth with 16, ahead of AEK and Ergotelis each with 15. Aris has 14, Larissa 13, Levadiakos and Panthrakikos have 12, Iraklis caught up with Panionios with 11, Asteras Tripolis and Panserraikos have nine and Thrasyvoulos and OFI have seven apiece.
