Brazilian… magic with goalkeeper Bernard and Panathinaikos is back

Panathinaikos finally donned his European suit, showing that not only will he be playing in European competitive groups this year, but he can recall the greatness of the past when he made Europe talk with his successes.

On Wednesday night, the Clovers defeated the… paper giants Marseille with an incredible goal from Bernard to win 1-0, while overall a better team than the French and fully deserved the win.

Panathinaikos played an excellent game overall, never fearing their opponent despite the stars they have in their squad and many of their players on a good day, with excellent Jedvai, Vagiannidis, Vilena, Pereth, Mancini and Kleinheisler , Ioannidis and Bernard won a great victory in their decisive battle. On the other hand, the French saw their players slip into mediocrity and ended the game down a player after Kodogbia was sent off in the 65th minute.

Of course it won’t be easy on August 15 in Marseille, in the second leg between the two sides, but if he displays a similar image to Leoforos then the chances of qualifying for the Champions League play-offs will be in his favour.

Jovanovic’s line-up is full of surprises

Jovanovic made three changes to Panathinaikos’ line-up compared to the previous match against Dnipro: Vaiannidis, Verbic and Mancini instead of Kotsiras, Palasios and Bernard.

Brignoli was under the goalposts, Vagiannidis took up a position at the right end of defense and Huancar played on the left. Jedvai played as a right stopper and Magnusson played on his left. Perez was the “six” of the shamrock, with Vilena playing next to him. Mancini started on the right wing of the attack, Verbic on the left wing and Sporar at the forefront of the attack.

Panathinaikos, as Jovanovic also explained, entered the Leoforos field with the aim of playing his game, not closing it, not giving the French any space and getting the ball in front of their feet. He did it in the opening minutes… with the Marseille players following the pace the greens set the game.

Panathinaikos… screwed up the details

The Shamrocks were the first to threaten when he entered the box in the 10th minute but couldn’t find a finish inside the box and the ball got to Perez who missed the shot completely. Ten minutes later, a corner kick from the right found Jedvai, who headed the ball but didn’t have his body in the right position, sending the ball flying quite high.

Marseille made themselves felt with their best endgame to date. After a cross from Lodi from the left, Aubameyang calmly took the header but sent the ball wide.

Ivan Jovanovic’s players remained undeterred and continued to have the ball at their feet, looking for ways towards the French goal. In fact, the trefoil could have threatened in the 31st minute when Balerdi pulled Verbic out of the box at the last moment before the latter found an unconcerned Mancini, who was ready to shoot. Magnuson’s foul in a good spot found the wall and then Perez’s shot was countered and went wide.

The first 45 minutes ended with some nice energy and Unahi’s shot from the left which was easily blocked by Brignoli. Both teams go into the Leoforos dressing room with a score of 0-0.

He had chances to score the shamrock

The second half started without changes for either team and Panathinaikos entered the field with the same logic. Playing his game and looking for a goal. In the 49th minute, Sporar gained possession on the right-hand side after a nice move from Vagiannidis, who stole and counterattacked. The Slovenian didn’t manage the shot, but the parallel pass next to Djuricic, who made a bad shot,

For his part, Marseille threatened twice and in the next minute Unahi found himself in a shooting position from outside the box. He attempted the shot, with Jedvai getting his head and batting the ball away, the ball went to Ediage, who executed the shot, the ball going just over Brignoli’s crossbar.

Panathinaikos responded with two nice attacks, but he couldn’t find a conclusion. First, the greens turned the ball well, the cross came from the left, cutting through the Marseille defense in front of Sporar, while in the next phase, in a parallel turn by Mancini from the left, the Slovenian striker tried to place with Gigot with the aim of to stop the ball.

The greatest moment of the game was lost in the 57th minute when the Panathinaikos players made an excellent counterattack. Juancar from the left spun the ball, Villena let it pass under his feet and it found Mancini. The Argentine checked with his right, putting it to the left, but the shot he attempted went just over the Marseille bar.

Two minutes later, Juancar played again from the left for Sporar, the Marseille defense cleared the ball through to Villena, who tried something quite difficult, a wrong header to score, but the ball went wide.

Panathinaikos has another player

In the 65th minute of the game, Panathinaikos was one player up when Kodogbia stepped on Djuricic, saw the second yellow card of the game and was sent off.

This caused Marseille to fall behind and start defending just outside his box, thereby narrowing the spaces towards his goal.

Jovanovic brought in Ioannidis and Bernard and then Cerin and Mladenovic to refresh his team and find something else to find a target.

Terrible partnership and goal from Bernard

That came in 84′ and it was really excellent. Bernard – Kleinheisler – Ioannidis combined beautifully with the Hungarian who served the Greek striker who gave a nice assist to the Brazilian midfielder who had moved into empty space and put the ball in the net with a nice shot to make it 1-0 for Panathinaikos sent.

Until the end of the game, the trefoil struggled for another goal, but despite the efforts of Ivan Jovanovic’s players, it didn’t succeed, so it remained 1-0 until the end of the game.

PANATHINAICOS (Jovanovic): Brignoli, Vagiannidis, Jedvaj, Magnuson, Huancar (79′ Mladenovic), Perez, Vilena (79′ Cerin), Djuricic (72′ Bernard), Mancini, Verbic (58′ Kleinheisler), Sporar (72′ Ioannidis).

MARSEILLE (Marthelino): Pau Lopez, Clos, Gigot, Balerdi, Lodi, Veretout (86′ Guedouzi), Kodogbiah, Sarr (75′ Harit), Ediage (75′ Munde), Unahi (66′ Ronzier), Aubameyang (86′ Bemba).