The ten moments I’ll never forget in New Philadelphia

I was young and grew up, I’m not old yet. But I feel truly fortunate and blessed to have experienced AEK in New Philadelphia where I was born and raised.

They asked me to choose 10 moments, I could write about 10 autobiographical situations, but I had to connect them to football, after all, that’s AEK. And so, after much deliberation and deliberation, I decided on the following:

My first game in Skepasti: 10/09/1988, AEK 2-0 Ethnicos

It was a game with nothing to remind it, a routine game in New Philadelphia for AEK, who since last season had managed to become a champion team after years and lose the title to Larissa in a way that continues to be debated .

THE Bajevic returned to New Philadelphia to experience the ordeal, and it happened to him two days in a row when it rained unimaginably on the first day. It should be like this!

All the love I experienced in New Philadelphia was two days of hate from people who were there to boo him, mock him, curse him, mock him. The scenes are indescribable… Maybe the strongest day I’ve ever experienced there because of all the feelings you don’t want.

I opened the press release window: 12.7.2000, AEK – Bayer Leverkusen 2:0

After the 4:4 in the first leg in Leverkusen, I went out on the pitch a bit depressed. “They are Germans, they will bring it to us” I thought anxiously.

But AEK was stormy! In the 16th minute Fernando Navas opened the way to qualification and in the 49th minute the great footballer Vassilis Tsiartas completed the triumph.

Then I opened the window to the press and climbed into the chair. I had never done it before, but I didn’t hold back. I wanted to go down and join the fans. I was instructed to cover the press conference for the newspaper, but in my joy I forgot and went down a few steps home.

I poured myself a whiskey and turned on the TV. Then I saw Christoph Daum making statements. I remembered I have work too, ran back to catch up…

When Maladenis looked like Zidane: 02/10/2002, AEK – Real Madrid 3-3

It will be AEK’s last major game before New Philadelphia’s demolition. I was already in journalism, back then as an employee at “Vima”.

It was a match that should have ended 5-3 or 6-4 for AEK based on the odds. Demis and Tsiartas did ‘magical’ things and Christos Maladenis had a game that left Madrid wondering who he is and how he plays in Greece.

If he hadn’t missed those two incredible opportunities, he might have been in Spain a few months later. The game that made me feel at the time that if there was a little more housekeeping and unity, the team would do much greater things at home and abroad.

The last game in New Philadelphia: 05.03.2003, AEK – Aris 4:0

Saying goodbye to “Yes” was very emotional. I remember not wanting to go and looking for reasons to avoid it, but it was a matter of work.

And so I drank the bitter glass to the bottom, because when you suspect something is falling apart, it’s difficult to build up the next day, don’t be misled by announcements.

And then I was terribly suspicious of those who said what was happening was the right thing. Unfortunately, it was the starting point for 19 years of begging. And the match I will always remember, although I always wanted to forget.

Broadcast from the OPAP Arena for the historic opening of AEK: