Unstoppable green train, 7X7 again with Aitor

Panathinaikos, with Aitor finding the net again and breaking the Gordian knot for the trefoil, clinched an important win over Asteras 1-0, breaking another negative tradition that has been going on since December 2019 and seven straight games without a win for the Greens lasted.

The Clovers have made it to seven out of seven this season, are the absolute best in the standings so far and look unstoppable as Aitor led the Greens from win to win as he also scored against Arkadys and that was his eighth Goal of the year He is the league’s top scorer with the Spaniard. Asteras really only had one ending to threaten, it came at 90+6 when Brignoli was there and took the corner.

The Greens were better throughout the game, having 19 finals for goals they found from Aitor’s well-timed penalty, which he won himself and was awarded by the referee through the use of VAR.

Panathinaikos wasn’t that good in the first 45 minutes, unlike the second where they increased their performance dramatically, pressuring Asteras, closing arcades in their frames and finally finding a “golden goal” as proved with Aitor.

The Greens had the dominance of the game at Leoforo in the first 45 minutes, but were unable to find aisles towards the Papadopoulos goal. The cloverleaf increased its performance after 30′ and in the 31′ made it to the three-quarters final with Schenkefeld’s best missed chance from close range, but the Arkades goalkeeper drove impressively away to the corner. Four minutes later, Aitor found himself in a shooting position but the header he took didn’t threaten Papadopoulos, who easily blocked.

With the start of the second half, Panathinaikos increased his performance, mainly looking for the goal from the left, with Huancar rising more. Asteras had his first home final with a shot from Tilikas in the 50′, but the shamrock was slowly moving into arcade territory.

First, in the 51st minute, Ioannidis took the header from a good position, but he was weak. A minute later, Huancar crossed the ball to Aitor, who caught the shot on the move, but he went wide. And in the 56th minute, Ioannidis regained possession of the ball outside the box, turned around and fired the shot that didn’t threaten Papadopoulos.

In the 63rd minute, instead of Palacios, Jovanovic put in Verbic and sent Aitor down the right flank, which played its part just as in Toumba. Chasing a phase into the box in the 76th minute, the Spain winger found the ball before Alvarez rolled over it. Referee Papadopoulos continued play but was called out by VAR to see the phase again. And he gave a penalty.

Aitor took the ball, placed it on the goal post and beat Papadopoulos as he sent it into the far corner for his eighth goal of the season.

Panathinaikos had a double chance with Verbic to score another goal at 90+5 but the Slovenian was beaten twice by Papadopoulos who kept his team ‘alive’.

In fact, Asteras could have equalized in the last minute of the game, but Sito, in a shooting position at the far post, made the shot while Brignoli deflected to the corner.

PANATHINAICOS: Brignoli, Sanchez (75′ Vaiannidis), Magnuson, Senkefeld, Huancar, Perez, Kourbelis (90+2′ Tsokai), Aitor, Bernard, Palasios (63′ Verbic), Ioannidis.

STAR: Papadopoulos, Garcia (45+2′ Regis), Castianio, Zukanovic, Alvarez, Iglesias, Stanko, Tilica (88′ Riera), Gardavski, Bartolo (87′ Sito), Barales (60′ Munafo).