Opening wins for PAO, PAOK
Panathinaikos and PAOK opened their campaign for the new Super League season with victories on August 28, as the domestic championship limped to its start with just five games over the weekend, owing to a number of court cases still pending.
With Olympiakos and AEK sitting out the first weekend of action, as they were due to play Kavala and Olympiakos Volou, which have been provisionally relegated to the fourth division, Panathinaikos and PAOK got most of the attention in the opening round of games.
The Greens recovered from the elimination to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Europa League three days earlier to score twice in the second half and beat Kerkyra 2-0 away. The goals came from a penalty that Sebastian Leto took in the 62nd minute, and from a lucky rebound from Sotiris Ninis after the Kerkyra goalkeeper botched his clearance in injury time.
PAOK scored an early goal at home to beat Xanthi 1-0 in front of at least 20,000 fans. Portuguese star Adelino Vieirinha got on the score sheet six minutes into the game.
In Sunday’s other game, Panionios and Ergotelis shared an entertaining 2-2 draw at Nea Smyrni. Sito Riera and Bernard Kumordzi scored for the hosts, Michalis Frangoulakis and Silva Junior replied for the Cretan side.
On August 27 OFI had drawn 1-1 with Atromitos, while PAS Yiannina and Aris shared a goalless draw.
The Panetolikos vs Asteras Tripolis, Olympiakos vs Kavala and AEK vs Olympiakos Volou games were cancelled.
