AEK’s play with Apollon Smyrni in OAKA is historic (02.06, 15:00, COSMOTE Sport 1 and Live Sportish) for Sergio Araούjo as the Argentine striker reached 100 appearances with the Union shirt in all competitions.

The 30-year-old striker is serving his fourth term at Union but it is permanent as he had the previous three on loan from Las Palmas. He has made a total of 71 league appearances (regular season and playoffs), 19 Greek Cup appearances and 10 appearances in Europe.

Araoucho performed superbly with the AEK jersey, with the possible exception of the third term, in which he was in low tide compared to the previous ones. Despite this, “Chino” managed to become very popular in the club and a slogan on the lips of AEK friends, and very quickly. With this participation, he entered the closed club of foreign footballers who, with the AEK jersey, exceeded 100 participations.

The debut and the important games

Araoucho provided a ‘click’ on his debut for Union as he scored twice in his first game against Levadiakos, credited with two assists, with Union beating Boeotian side 6-0 for the Greek Cup.

Levadiakos is his second ‘favourite team’ as they have scored four goals in three appearances. Olympiacos are the opponents who are doing better in Greece. He has scored five goals in 10 appearances and his record against the Red and Whites is five wins, four losses and one draw.

Despite the 34 goals, Araούjo has not scored a hat trick, but he has several games in which he has scored two goals and even important games.

The first was the winning derby against PAOK on March 12, 2017, in which AEK had won 3-0 in OAKA. On April 1, 2018, the next match after Toumba’s episodic derby, he scored two goals against Panathinaikos, in a derby in which AEK made an important move to win the championship.

He scored two goals in the last game against Olympiakos in which Union suffered a 3-2 defeat in OAKA. He scored two goals in the championship against PAS Giannina.

The game with Austria Wien for the Europa League groups in OAKA, in which AEK drew 2-2, is also special. In that game, Araούjo was the big protagonist with one goal and one assist. In addition to the two goals he scored in five games, he scored seven key goals in seven games that gave Union victories.

It was his most productive game of his ten European games with AEK. Araujo was unlucky in two of his four terms to find himself in the second half of the season, where, with the exception of the 2017/18 season, he did not continue in Europe after February.

PARTICIPATIONS AND REPORT OF ARAUHO BY SEASON

DETAILS OF THE AAROUCHOS GAMES WITH THE UNION

* AEK is considered the home team in all matches

Araujo’s participation at Apollon makes him the 22nd foreign footballer to reach a triple-digit tally in the Union shirt but is sixth at the forefront of attack. This is definitely a historic achievement as the Argentine striker has an opportunity to rise and remain in AEK history, after all his contract has a 3-year term with the possibility of extending the collaboration for another year.

Tony Savevski has the most participations of all with 463 participations, which is hardly surpassed by a foreign footballer. Daniel Batista, who later acquired Greek citizenship, has the most attendances (193) of AEK’s foreign forwards.

Ismail Blanco follows with 169 involvements, third is Marco Livagia with 147 (at AEK he played in all positions on the attacking line). The attackers are followed by Bajevic with 147 and the German Walter Wagner with 115 participations.

Then follow Ketspaia with 105 and Jimbur with 103. The last two Araujo will be able to overtake them this season.

The list of foreign players who have exceeded 100 participations

1. Toni Savevski – 463
2. Andre Simoes – 220
3. Daniel Batista-193
4. Ishmael Blanco – 169
5. Milen Petkov – 166
6. Refik Sampanadzovic – 164
7. Rodrigo Gallo-160
8. Marco Livagia – 147
9. Dusan Bajewic – 137
10. Jacob Johansson – 127
11. Dmitry Czigrinski – 126
12. Julio Cesar-123
13. Gustavo Manduca-123
14. Nacho Skoko – 118
15. Sebastian Saha – 116
16. Walter Wagner-115
17. Leonardo – 112
18. Elder Lopez-110
19. Timur Ketspaia – 105
20. Rafik Jimbur – 103
21. Ognjen Vranjes – 101
22. Sergio Araύjo – 100

* Cypriots George Savvidis and Tassos Konstantinou were excluded from the list, as was expatriate Jimmy Patikas.

Very important contribution this season

In a difficult transitional season for AEK, just before moving to his new homeland, Araούjo is the footballer who spearheads AEK.

He is her top scorer in the league with eight goals, her most threatening (5.51 goals expected), 23 more shots on goal than any other AEK player while she has a goal every 161 minutes, the best tally of any of her AEK players. These are some of the categories that Araujo is leading and leading this season.

Of course, he stole the show in the most recent game against Aris, the No. 99 of his career at Union. He scored an amazing goal with the scissors and then dedicated it to 19-year-old murdered Mars fan Alki Kampanos, impressing Greek football as a whole.