Michalis Tsochos writes about Athanasiadis and football that justifies those who work, Olympiakos Mendiliber will be a good team and PAOK is knocking hard on the door of the title. Panathinaikos is a big loser.

Giorgos Athanasiadis was called up to play the derby with Olympiakos, under enormous pressure. Suddenly, the eleven and one bad night could not cost him his career in AEK, but the continuation of his career in general. The cannibalistic Greek public would… gobble him up when they tried to gobble him up halfway through the period for two serious fouls. And because football justifies those who work, Athanasiadis stayed at AEK, stood on his feet and was the MVP, the absolute protagonist of AEK’s biggest victory of the year and the most important to win the second championship in a row. No of course, no AEK won the championship with the victory against Olympiakos, but the way this victory came and the fact that they remained at the top, alone first and +2 from PAOK, keeps them in a favorite position for his conquest.

AEK defeated an excellent Olympiakos team at half-time, which at points was better than AEK as a whole. And he defeated him, because at the end of the match the red-whites had to take all the risks for the victory, since a draw did not give them.

Olympiacos in Mendiliber, but also Ciquinho, Carmo (the transfers from January), Ese, Pontense and the rest are a good team that, if given time, have all the resources to do important things. This Olympiacos has nothing to do with Olympiacos in the first half of the season. But it requires time and some corrections in the details. At the OPAP Arena, he made a great performance but not complete as he missed the target. Athanasiadis did not let him succeed with his very important interventions, but in some cases the final decisions of the Olympiakos players were not the best.

Medilibar told us that Olympiacos will play resta and it did. Had he not done that, he would probably have come away with a draw, but the mentality of a team that is fourth cannot be to take a point and see. Almeida, he knew it would happen, he expected it to happen, and he pounced on it. AEK went for all the quick transitions they could and beat Olympiakos who kept raising their defense and with one like that in the delays they took the whole game.

Olympiacos with Europe and with a big handicap, even if they did not lose, they would not be able to win the championship. He would be unlikely to get it even if he won with at least two extra European games with Fenerbahce, but in that case he would have a realistic chance. So the important thing for now is Europe and equally important to become a team and get the right mentality. In this sense, I mention of his image and performance rather than the score in the title that two won but one mainly lost. Because the standings may show that Olympiacos lost the championship tonight, but in my eyes it happened a long time ago…

As it is also clear this year that AEK is the favourite, and this is due, as last year, to the depth it has in its roster. This… bench gave her the championship last year, this one will give it to her again this year. Mandalo’s assist, Eliasson’s goal, in two of Almeida’s changes. Which even saw his substitute goalkeeper, to be the derby’s leading man.

A little earlier, PAOK did something in Leoforo that, to tell you the truth, I expected it to do. He beat Panathinaikos and absolutely stayed alive in the championship. It is not only the 4-4-2 of Terim, which proved (not only in terms of results, but also as an idea) problematic for Panathinaikos, it is also the weakness of Terim’s team in defensive transitions and of course the psychology adopted by PAOK in these matches. He walks into the Avenue and feels very comfortable. Panathinaikos now has few, minimal chances for the championship. They only keep them if they beat AEK on Wednesday, otherwise they are out of the 4th round of the playoffs.

PAOK, on ​​the contrary, multiplied them. He is not a favourite, and to become one he will have to exorcise his ghost next Sunday at the OPAP Arena against AEK. If successful, he becomes the favorite, otherwise the Union now becomes the absolute favorite. PAOK has a plan, identity, logic, character. It is a team made by a very skilled coach and has both quality players and enough depth in its roster. Therefore, he has come here at the beginning of April. And “so far” is in 8 of Europe and in the championship requirements in straight lines. If he finds between four and six points in the two games against AEK, he will probably get it, but that is a discussion for next Sunday. On Wednesday, PAOK have Lamia at home and AEK have Panathinaikos away…