Amid a somber atmosphere within the walls, Greece sees two of its teams clash on Thursday in the quarter-finals of a European competition
With the barons of Greek football “slaughtering” with everyone and everything. With lycophilia-alliances changing every matchday, with shouts, unreliability, bravos, obscenities on the front line, with games judged in courtrooms, with CAS appeals, with murders, punishments, empty stands. And yet, in this very toxic climate:
Two Greek teams (PAOK and Olympiacos) reached the quarter-final stage of a European competition (Conference League).
A youth team, that of Olympiakos, qualified for the Final Four of the UEFA Youth League.
The Greek national team came one breath away from qualifying for the finals of Euro 2024, but were eliminated on penalties.
Greece is hosting two European finals this season, the Super Cup last August in Karaiskaki (Manchester City – Sevilla) and the Conference League final next May at the OPAP Arena.
Really, how much money would someone win on the bet and how many people would think he was quaint or crazy if he said that Greek football is at this time – paradoxical as it may be in the midst of a merciless Big 4 civil war – at its best and can only dream the even better ones? Unlikely and yet Greek…
Next Thursday (11/4) Olympiacos and PAOK enter the battle of 8 of the Conference League with the goal of the excesses that will bring them to the top four and why not to the final of the competition that will be held in Athens, at the OPAP Arena! Olympiacos will initially (19.45) welcome to Karaiskakis the Fenerbahce of many and expensive transfers (Batsuagi, Fred, Dzeko, Samuel, Livakovic, Bonucci, etc.) and then PAOK (22.00) will be tested in Belgium against Bruges. If the “red and whites” manage to overcome the obstacle of the Turkish team, they will play in the semi-final with the winner of the clash between the two big favorites to win the Aston Villa – Lille trophy.
Therefore, the people of Piraeus have… mountains in front of them. If the “two-header” overcomes the Belgians, then it will play in the other semi-final with the winner of the pair Victoria Plzen – Fiorentina. A little more… low mountains on the way to the final for the Thessalonikis compared to those that Olympiacos has in front of it…
Past
However, it is not the first time that Greek teams reach the quarter-final stage of a European competition. But the impressive thing this year is that two together reached the 8th of the same event and in which, based on the draw, opponents can only be found in the final.
A total of 18 times Greek teams have managed to reach the quarter-final stage of a European competition or to go even further. The most important success of the Greek teams in the European competitions is of course the participation of Panathinaikos in the final of the Champions Cup 1970-71 at Wembley against the great Ajax, by whom they were defeated 2-0.
Panathinaikos has reached the semi-finals of the competition twice, in the seasons 1984-85 (eliminated by Liverpool with two defeats 1-0 and 4-0) and 1995-96 (eliminated by Ajax as they won 1-0 in Amsterdam, but was defeated 3-0 in Athens).
Greek teams have reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League four times. AEK (1968-69) who were eliminated by Czechoslovakia’s Spartak Trnava (1-2 and 1-1), Panathinaikos (1991-92), where they were in one of the two quarter-final groups with rivals Sampdoria, Red Star and Anderlecht, Olympiacos (1998-99) who were eliminated by Juventus with a 1-2 loss and a 1-1 draw and again Panathinaikos for the second time (2001-02) who were eliminated by Barcelona with a 1-0 win and a loss 3-1.
Greek teams have reached the quarter-finals 14 times, most of them in the Cup Winners’ Cup. Those that have succeeded are (apart from the three teams of the former POK), PAOK in 1974 in the Cup and twice in the Conference League (2022 and this year), the amazing Larissa in 1985 and the improbable Panionios in 1999.
The 20 Europeans
Greece took part in a European club competition for the first time in the 1959-60 season, in the UEFA Women’s Champions Cup with Olympiakos as its representative and the then mighty Milan as its opponent. The Piraeus club had been invited a year earlier to the same competition (1958-59), in the preliminary round of which it had been drawn with Besiktas from Turkey, only to withdraw due to the crisis between the two venues.
A total of 20 Greek teams have participated in European competitions (Champions League/Champions League, Cup Winners’ Cup, UEFA Cup/Europa League, Conference League): Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, AEK, PAOK, Larissa, Panionios, Aris, Iraklis, OFI, Xanthi, Atromitos, Asteras Tripoli, Kastoria, Athenaikos, Aegaleo, Panachaiki, Olympiacos Volos, Apollon Athens, Ionian, PAS Ioannina.
Our teams in European competitions have faced Spanish and Italian teams more times (total 110 and 104 matches respectively). In these matches the teams only managed to knock out Spanish teams and six Italian teams in knockout matches. On the Spanish side, Atletico Madrid were “victims” of elimination twice (from Panionio for the 1971-72 UEFA Cup and OFI for the 1993-94 UEFA Cup) and Zaragoza once (from Ari for the 2007-08 UEFA Cup). , while on the Italian side Juventus, Roma (both from Panathinaikos for the UEFA Cup 1987-88 and Europa League 2009-10 respectively), Cagliari (from Olympiakos for the UEFA Cup 1972-73), Perugia (by Ari for the 1979-80 UEFA Cup), while Udinese has been eliminated twice (by PAOK for the 2000-01 UEFA Cup and Panionio for the 2004-05 UEFA Cup).
The scorers
Dimitris Salpingidis is the top scorer of Greek teams in European competitions, having scored 30 goals in total. Demis Nikolaidis with 26 goals for AEK, Christoph Vazeha with 25 for Panathinaikos, Youssef El Arabi with 20 for Olympiakos and Stefanos Athanasiadis with 20 goals for PAOK are in first place per club.
The most Greek team goals scored by one player in one match is 4 and three players have scored them. The first was Antonis Antoniadis of Panathinaikos for the Champions Cup 1970-71 against Luxembourg’s Zenes Es (5-0), followed by Demis Nicolaidis of AEK for the UEFA Cup 2000-01 against Denmark’s Herfolge (5-0) and third Swedish Markus Berg of Panathinaikos for the 2014-15 Europa League against Midland from Denmark (4-1).
A football fan’s delight
A few days ago, the president of the Super League, Minas Lysandrou, gave an interview to the German magazine “Kicker” and the journalist told him: “At the moment there is a joke going around among the Greek fans: what does the Greek league have that even the Premier League can’t offer?” . Lysandros did not find the answer and the journalist told him: “In Greece four teams are fighting for the championship, while in England there are three”.
At the end of the 3rd matchday of the playoffs, the first PAOK and the fourth Olympiacos are 6 points apart (66 to 60), so all the members of the Big 4 have hopes, more or less, for winning the title.
Adrenaline hits red every matchday and it is indicative of the fact that the… occupant of the top can change again today, as the second with 65 points AEK welcomes PAOK to the OPAP Arena (20.30).
In the middle of the week, the Union was defeated by the third in the standings with 62 points Panathinaikos in Leoforos and fell from the first place. The “greens” have ups and downs in their performance, but they do not abandon the train leading to the top.
The changes of coaches disorganized Olympiakos who lost several points, but despite everything in the playoffs they can change the facts with victories in the next games. Today he competes in Lamia (17.00) and may be even closer to the top.
The Super League has developed dramatically since last August, the games are spectacular with quality protagonists and this year’s championship has evolved into… a football fan’s delight.
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