Another title turns red
Olympiakos is once again the Greek soccer champion as of last night, clinching its 12th title in 13 years. The Piraeus side dismissed Panionios 3-2 in Nea Smyrni to open an unassailable 11-point gap from Panathinaikos and PAOK, with just three rounds of games left in the Super League. The Reds had Matt Derbyshire, Predrag Djordevic and Dudu Cearense on the scoresheet as they had to come from 2-1 down before securing all three points and seeing their coach, Ernesto Valverde, jump up and down at full-time for winning the title in his first year in Greece. Panathinaikos dropped two more points as it failed to beat Asteras Tripolis away. The 1-1 was a fair result for the game, with goals coming from Dimitris Salpigidis for Panathinaikos and Vangelis Kaounos for Asteras. PAOK is now joint second with Panathinaikos and a point ahead of AEK. PAOK fought back to beat relegated Thrasyvoulos 2-1 at home thanks to an Ibrahima Bakayoko winner, while AEK downed struggling Levadiakos 3-1 in Athens, with the league’s top scorer Ismael Blanco once again on target. The striker now has a tally of 13 goals to his name. Larissa and Aris will keep fighting for the fifth spot which means a place in the playoffs. Larissa won 2-0 at Iraklis and Aris dismissed Panserraikos 2-1 away. OFI maintained its slim hopes of staying up by seeing off Panthrakikos 4-3, but in order to reach a position of safety it will need to catch either Levadiakos or Iraklis.
