Out-of-towners trounce AEK
A controversial penalty by David Fuster allowed Olympiakos to beat Asteras Tripolis 1-0 away last night and extend its lead at the top of the Super League to seven points, but the shock of the soccer weekend came with AEK’s thrashing at home by newly promoted Olympiakos Volou that ended with a 4-0 score on Saturday. AEK suffered its worst home defeat in almost 40 years, earning jeers from its fans. Some angry supporters even tried to approach the AEK locker room, but the police kept them at bay. The Volos side, which had also beaten Panathinaikos 1-0 in Athens, scored via Papa Khalifa Sankare, Javier Umbides, Vicente Monje and Costas Kapetanos and moved to joint sixth on the table. Tripoli was always a difficult place to visit for Olympiakos Piraeus, but just as in the cup a few weeks earlier, the league leader scraped through, even if this was via a harsh penalty in the 30th minute. «I would have preferred it if we had scored in another way and not from the penalty spot, as penalties are always controversial,» conceded Olympiakos coach Ernesto Valverde. Panathinaikos, in second, dropped two points when it drew 1-1 away against Panionios. The hosts took the lead with a Costas Mitroglou goal and Djibril Cisse equalized for the Greens with another controversial penalty. PAOK defeated visiting Xanthi 2-1 to remain alone in third place with goals from Adelino Vieirinha and Dimitris Salpigidis. Kavala had a prolific second half, getting the best of Iraklis keeper Dimitris Eleftheropoulos three times for a comfortable 3-0 win. Kerkyra added to Larissa’s relegation troubles with a 1-0 home win while Atromitos stayed in form, winning 1-0 at struggling Panserraikos. Ergotelis and Aris played out an entertaining scoreless draw. Olympiakos leads the table with 48 points from 19 games, with Panathinaikos at 41, PAOK at 33 and AEK at 30. Kavala is alone in fifth with 27 points, Ergotelis, Atromitos and Olympiakos Volou have 25, Xanthi and Aris have 24, Kerkyra is 11th with 23, Iraklis stayed at 22, Panionios climbed to 20, Asteras Tripolis has 19, while the bottom two are Panserraikos with 16 and Larissa with 14 points.
