Panathinaikos wins derby and stays joint top with AEK
Panathinaikos beat Olympiakos in the Derby of Eternal Rivals and remained at the top of the Super League table alongside AEK that defeated Aris.
Playing its best 45 minutes of the season, Panathinaikos saw off Olympiakos with a 2-0 score on Sunday at the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium of Athens and needs 16 points from the six remaining games of the playoffs to win its first title in 13 years.
Two defensive errors by Olympiakos in the first half saw the Greens score as many times, first through Andraz Sporar and then via a Dimitris Kourbelis header that went in via the back of Olympiakos’ Youssef El-Arabi.
This was also the fourth consecutive game Panathinaikos has had a clean sheet, in as many playoff matches.
AEK needed two late goals by Steven Zuber to overcome Aris with a 3-1 score at the OPAP Agia Sofia Arena.
The hosts went ahead with Levi Garcia, but before half-time Juan Iturbe equalized for Aris. AEK had to wait to the 82nd minute for Zuber to score the winner and he added AEK’s third deep into injury time.
PAOK was impressive in the first half against Volos and won 4-2 in Thessaloniki. All four goals for PAOK came in the first 45 minutes, from Sverrir Ingi Ingason, Khaled Narey (twice) and Tiago Dantas. Tasos Tsokanis and Ognjen Ozegovic scored for Volos in the second half.
Panathinaikos and AEK are on 69 points, Olympiakos has 63, PAOK rose to 60, Aris stayed on 41 and Volos 40.
In the playouts, Ionikos and Levadiakos scored precious road wins on Saturday, while Lamia returned to the drop zone.
Ionikos won 1-0 at Panetolikos and Levadiakos beat Asteras by the same score at Tripoli. OFI thrashed Lamia 4-1 and Atromitos drew 1-1 with PAS Giannina.
Atromitos has 34 points, OFI 33, Panetolikos 29, Asteras Tripolis 28, PAS and Ionikos have 24, Lamia has 23 and Levadiakos 22.
