The four big qualifiers of the Greek teams against the French

However, the 0:0 remained unchanged until the end and the red-whites celebrated something that seemed almost impossible before the kick-off of the first game. They hadn’t conceded a goal in 180 minutes and were in the clouds!

“We are walking on a dream road, the future is ours” Socrates Kokkalis would say happily as soon as he entered the dressing room and paid each of the heroes of the legendary performance a bonus of two million drachmas.

Panther suckled on lions

• September 20, 2007

Sochaux – Panionios 0-2

27′ Jimbur, 55′ Fernandes

• October 4, 2007

Panionios – Soso 0-1

53’aut. Koumourtzi

After reaching the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-finals 8.5 years ago (1999) and struggling against the mighty Lazio, qualifying for the first round of the UEFA Cup should not be a point of reference for Panionios. However, it was far from passable, the first stop on the journey that started in the fall of 2007, aimed at participating in the groups at the event, so the (subsequent) success counted double.

After all, the Blue-Reds looked like the outsiders of the pair in a Stefan Dalma-led Sochaux, who had finished seventh in Ligue 1. Especially before Montbéliar, the odds were clearly against them.

Linen and his players reversed the data ahead of the second leg in Nea Smyrni, surprising Fredrik Angz’s side with their regular game. It was a show full of goals.

Panionios’ superiority was rewarded once in each half, the first by Rafik Jembour and the second by Dario Fernandez’s direct corner, and when he returned to Athens 2-0, everything was fine.

The truth is things didn’t go according to plan. A bit of over-enthusiasm, a bit of faith in the score from the first game and a bit of bad luck saw the Blue-Reds struggle in the last half hour of the game to defend and not consolidate the 2-0 lead.

Soso wasn’t as dangerous as the game demanded, but with an own goal behind them, the Neosmirniotes had to be careful and avoid taking unacceptable risks. After Kresic didn’t have to intervene and Turkey’s Erdink missed the last chance of the “Socialists”, the Greek team got the signal to start the long frenetic celebrations.

Joining the groups at a European event was a non-negligible achievement.