Favorites kept apart in Greek Cup draw
All favorites advanced to the Greek quarterfinals this week, although PAS Giannina came close to a major upset beating Panathinaikos in Athens on Thursday. The big names were also kept apart in Friday’s draw for the last eight.
PAOK overturned Kalloni’s 2-1 advantage from the first leg at Mytilini winning 3-0 on Thursday, with Dimitar Berbatov (pictured) scoring PAOK’s third goal on the night.
Panathinaikos led 2-1 from the away game at Giannena but had a subdued performance at home in the return allowing PAS to score an injury-time goal and win 1-0 on the night, threatening in the end with a second goal that would have seen the Epirus side produce a giant-killing act.
Olympiakos strolled to a 6-0 home win on Wednesday and a 10-1 aggregate victory over second-division Hania, while AEK downed Levadiakos for a second time with a 1-0 score to qualify on a 2-0 on aggregate.
Iraklis beat Veria by the same score, this time at home for a 2-0 aggregate victory, but the most gripping encounter was that of Atromitos against Platanias. The first leg had ended goalless at Hania and on Tuesday Platanias led 1-0 early on at Peristeri, before succumbing to the host with a 2-1 due to a Stefano Napoleoni injury-time strike.
In other ties Panionios eliminated Ergotelis with a 1-0 win on Thursday and 2-0 on aggregate, and Asteras Tripolis downed second-division leader Larissa 3-0 on Wednesday and 6-0 on aggregate.
In Friday’s draw the ties that emerged are as follows: Panionios vs PAOK, Olympiakos vs Asteras Tripolis, Panathinaikos vs Atromitos, and AEK vs Iraklis.
The first legs are scheduled for January 27/28 and the second for February 3/4 and 10/11.
