El-Arabi hat trick seals another title season for Olympiakos
The Super League play-offs have ended, with victories for Olympiakos, PAOK and Aris who respectively took the first three spots in the final table of the Greek championship.
On Tuesday, with almost nothing to play for, champion Olympiakos came from behind to beat AEK 3-2 at the Olympic Stadium of Athens and finish the season on a high.
AEK led twice, via Steven Zuber and Levi Garcia, but Olympiakos had Youssef El-Arabi on fire: The Moroccan international scored a hat trick to prevent AEK’s first win against Olympiakos in over four years.
PAOK and Panathinaikos played the game that would settle the ceremonial second place, but both clearly had Saturday’s Cup final in their minds more than anything.
Two first-half goals within seven minutes, by Stefan Schwab and Chuba Akpom, gave PAOK a 2-0 victory and the second spot in the final table.
Aris took advantage of Panathinaikos’ loss and snatched the third place with a 3-0 win at PAS Giannina, goals coming from Fabiano, Aboubakar Kamara and Salem M’Bakata.
Olympiakos has topped the table with 83 points. PAOK had 64, followed by Aris (62), Panathinaikos (61), AEK (56) and PAS Giannina (46).
In the play-outs the final table is as follows: Ionikos 45, OFI Crete 44, Asteras Tripolis 41, Volos 40, Panetolikos 37, Atromitos 33, Lamia 26 and Apollon Smyrnis 22. Apollon is automatically relegated and Lamia will face a two-leg play-off with second-division runner-up Veria. Levadiakos has been promoted to the top flight.
