Panathinaikos – AEK Athens
Panathinaikos hosts AEK Athens in a game from Greece’s Super League play-offs for qualification for the Champions League and Europa League.
Right now AEK are leading the play-offs table with 6 points from 3 games, after winning against Panathinaikos and PAOK, but losing against Panionios.
As for Panathinaikos, they didn’t start very well in the play-offs, winning just one point from the first two games. They won a point against Panionios, but they lost against AEK.
These two teams met once in the play-offs so far. This happened just three days ago, when AEK managed to beat Panathinaikos with 1-0 at home ground. The only goal was scored by Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, who entered the pitch after the break.
During the regular season in the Super League, Panathinaikos performed a little better than AEK, finishing the campaign at 3rd place with 57 points won. AEK ended their regular season 4th with just four points less.
For Panathinaikos it’s very important to win this game, if they want to keep their chances of reaching the Champions League play-offs. Having won just 2 points in the play-off stage in the Super League so far, they would lose all hope for reaching the Champions League if they lose once again from AEK.
As for AEK, winning tonight would mean that they will become major favorites for reaching the first place in the play-offs and securing the second Champions League spot in Greece. The first one is already secured by the champion Olympiakos, who once again dominates Greek football.
It’s curious to see if Panathinaikos’s manager Marinos Ouzounidis is about to make some changes in his starting line-up. Swedish striker Guillermo Molins dissapointed in the game three days ago, being replaced by Sebastian Leto after just 60 minutes on the pitch. It won’t be surprising to see the Argentine Leto starting this game.