Super League turns into three-horse race
The Super League has become a three-horse race with one third of the way already run, but none of the top three teams won this weekend, as PAOK lost at Xanthi, Olympiakos stumbled at home against PAS Giannina and Panathinaikos drew at fourth-placed Asteras Tripolis.
Four days after its triumph at Piraeus over Olympiakos, PAOK suffered its first defeat away from home as Xanthi beat the Thessaloniki giant 4-2 on Sunday.
The game in Thrace was full of action, with two goals by Pantelis Kapetanos and one each by Adrian Lucero and Clayton Silva for Xanthi, while Stefanos Athanasiadis and Robert Mak scored for PAOK.
Therefore Olympiakos reduced its distance from PAOK to four points even though it dropped two points at home to PAS Giannina on Saturday with a 2-2 score.
The Epirus team led through Alexis Michail by half-time, Olympiakos turned things around via a Costas Fortounis penalty kick and a Pajtim Kasami goal, but Evripidis Yakos earned a precious point for the visitors.
As if the tally of one point from two home games within four days was not bad enough for the champion, it also saw key midfielder Luka Milivojevic suffer an injury that rules him out of Tuesday’s decisive Champions League game against Malmoe.
Panathinaikos edged close to the top, five point behind PAOK, as it snatched a point at Asteras Tripolis with a 1-1 score against a superior host that had the best part of the chances in the game. The Greens led through Tasos Lagos, but six minutes later Papa Khalifa Sankare equalized for the Peloponnesian club.
Atromitos rose to sixth after escaping with a point from Corfu thanks to an injury time equalizer against Kerkyra (1-1).
Levadiakos produced another impressive away performance, topping its 4-0 triumph at PAS Giannina in midweek with a 2-0 victory at OFI Crete.
The remarkable Panetolikos vs Panionios game ended 2-1, in an encounter that had it all: Three goals, three penalties that were all saved by the goalkeepers and one red card for each side.
In other games Veria beat Platanias 2-0 to rise to fifth and Niki Volou scored its second win of the season as it downed Kalloni Lesvou 2-0.
On Monday Panthrakikos greets Ergotelis.
