Super League scorchers
The Super League games that had been postponed in August due to the Attica wildfires, set the top-flight league on fire late on Wednesday evening, as Olympiakos defeated championship contender AEK 2-1 away and PAOK was denied a goal by the referee in its scoreless draw at Panionios. Vassilis Torosidis netted his third and fourth goal within a week to give Olympiakos its third victory in seven days, since the sacking of Georgian manager Temuri Ketsbaia. With Brazilian manager Zico on its bench for the first time, Olympiakos managed to rise above pressure from the hosts at Athens’s Olympic Stadium and score at its first real chance in the 44th minute with a Torosidis header from inside the penatly area. Ten minutes into the second half, Torosidis struck again, this time by shaking off his markers just after the halfway line and lobbing the ball past AEK goalkeeper Sebastian Saja to make it 2-0 for Olympiakos. AEK pulled a goal back in the 65th via Hungarian striker Krisztian Nemeth, who is playing in Greece on loan from Liverpool, but could not find an equalizer despite a number of scoring chances it had throughout the game. AEK is also fuming at the referee’s decision not to award it a penalty in the 39th minute for an Olof Mellberg handball into the box. Olympiakos has therefore moved to second place in the league, putting pressure on leader Panathinaikos, which is two points ahead. At Nea Smyrni, Panionios and PAOK ended up goalless, although PAOK seemed to have taken the lead when Vieirinha slotted the ball into the net in the 74th minute, only for the referee to disallow it. Video footage showed the offside decision had been a mistake.
