Olympiakos ready to claim their sixth successive championship
Alexis Alexandris struck twice as Olympiakos Piraeus beat AEK 4-3 Saturday to overtake the Athens club and have a clear shot at winning its sixth successive title. Olympiakos tied AEK with 55 points each at the top of the first division soccer league but goes into the last round with the advantage on head-to-head record, giving Olympiakos the title if points are level at the end. The Piraeus club beat AEK 2-1 in January. Thousands of Olympiakos fans took to the streets in celebration after Saturday’s game, anticipating victory over Aris in Thessaloniki in the next round. AEK faces PAOK at home. In another game Saturday, Panathinaikos came from being a goal down to beat Xanthi 3-1 at home, with two goals scored from the 38-year-old Polish striker Krzysztof Warzycha. Miltiadis Sapanis added the other home goal. The Athens club retained third place in the 14-team standings with 49 points and one game in hand. Saturday’s action-packed game was played before 60,000 spectators at Athens’s Olympic Stadium. AEK took the lead with a penalty by Vassilis Tsartas in the 24th minute. Kyros Vassaras, who will be the first-ever Greek referee to participate in a World Cup this year, awarded the penalty when Predrag Djordjevic fouled Tsartas in his area. AEK’s keeper Dionyssis Chiotis made a diving save to a header by Brazilian forward Giovanni in the 30th. But he could not stop the equalizer – a spectacular overhead kick by Alexandris off a center from Christos Patsatzoglou in the 43rd. Six minutes into the second period, Patsatzoglou exploited a mistake by Chiotis to give Olympiakos the lead. And in the 58th, poor coordination between Chiotis and Brazilian defender Ramos Rodrigo let Alexandris mark his 17th goal of the season and make it 3-1. Tsartas converted another penalty in the 75th minute, but Djordjevic stretched the score to 4-2 in the 90th. Vassilis Lakis made the final 4-3 with a shot in the fourth minute of injury time. A minute earlier, Angelos Georgiou made a decisive save to a powerful shot by Tsartas. Yesterday, Brazilian striker Fofonka scored twice as Iraklis beat Aris 2-1 yesterday to become one of three contenders for the last remaining place in next season’s UEFA Cup. Panionios trounced lowly Ethnikos Asteras 4-0, while OFI Crete beat Aegaleo 2-1 to become the other two candidates for the fourth Greek slot in the European competition. Iraklis has 35 points, one ahead of Panionios and two ahead of OFI. In the last round, scheduled for May 8, Iraklis will host Panionios and OFI will play at Xanthi. One team will join Panathinaikos Athens, PAOK and Xanthi at the UEFA Cup. That round will also determine whether Panachaiki Patras or Ethnikos Asteras is relegated to the second division. Panachaiki is at the bottom of the table with 15 points, two behind Ethnikos Asteras. Only one team will drop to the second division next season, but three will be promoted to expand the size of the first division from 14 to 16 teams next season. (AP)
