Louza Stars as Panathinaikos Rout Asteras 5-1 and Return to Top

By Taki Panos

Some afternoons at OAKA feel heavy before a ball is even kicked. Sunday was one of them, and then Panathinaikos turned it into a party. The Greens thrashed Asteras Aktor 5-1 at the Olympic Stadium in Athens on Sunday, October 18, in the seventh round of the Stoiximan Super League, with five different players on the scoresheet, Sport24 and Novasports reported. The win put Panathinaikos back on top of the table with 18 points, two clear of Olympiacos, per Sport24 and Sportal.

The match was played in the shadow of the death of Giorgos Vardinogiannis, the historic former president of the club's football company, who passed away a few days ago at the age of 90. Before kickoff, a portrait of him was placed at the stadium, and people from both clubs left flowers in front of it, Sport24 and in.gr reported. Sport24 added that players from both teams laid white roses after their warm-ups and that the ground held a minute's silence in his memory, followed by long, warm applause.

There was a gentler moment too. Panathinaikos presented plaques to two Asteras players who spent years in green, former captain Dimitris Kourmbelis and Giannis Kotsiras, to thank them for their service, as Sport24 and Sportal reported. Then it was down to business. Jakob Neestrup's side had lost the derby to Olympiacos in their previous league game, and they started like a team that had been chewing on that all week. Zambian midfielder Kings Kangwa had the first two good looks inside the opening ten minutes, per Gazzetta and Novasports.

Moments after Asteras wasted a good chance of their own came the worst news of the day for the home side. Azzedine Ounahi, the Moroccan international playmaker, went down after trying to reach the ball ahead of Kotsiras and was carried off on a stretcher, Sport24 and Gazzetta reported. Andrews Tetteh replaced him. The first assessment pointed to a hamstring problem in his right leg, and both Sport24 and Sportal said it does not look like a simple one. He is due for an MRI scan on Monday afternoon.

Panathinaikos needed a few minutes to shake off the shock, and then they struck twice in four minutes. In the 27th minute, Kangwa swung in a corner from the left and Stefan de Vrij met it with a glancing header at the near post, his first goal for the club, per Novasports and Gazzetta. In the 31st, a cross into the box was not properly cleared and Imran Louza swept the loose ball home for 2-0, also his first goal in green, as Novasports and Gazzetta both reported.

The second half started with more of the same. Within two minutes, Vicente Taborda, on for Levi Garcia at the interval, saw a close-range header cleared off the line by Antonis Papakanellos, who had also just come on, and de Vrij could not beat goalkeeper Papadopoulos from the follow-up, Gazzetta reported. Sport24 said he saved Asteras from a certain 3-0, and the same young player was about to give the visitors a reason to believe.

Right on the hour, the young Greek midfielder picked up the ball near the halfway line and simply went past everyone in front of him before finishing beautifully past Inaki Pena for 2-1, a goal that Sport24, Novasports and Gazzetta all praised. It lasted two minutes. Louza slid a pass through to Cyriel Dessers, who took a lovely first touch, got around Papadopoulos and finished for 3-1, per Sport24 and Novasports. Asteras coach Giorgos Antonopoulos would later call that sequence the turning point. I would not argue with him.

From there it was a procession. In the 72nd minute, Davide Calabria found space outside the box and drilled a low shot into the net for 4-1, and in the 83rd Louza delivered an accurate cross that the unmarked Tetteh turned in for 5-1, as Sport24 and Novasports reported. That gave Louza a goal and two assists, and Novasports and Sportal both named him man of the match. The one sour note late on was Adriano Jagusic, who was hurt after a shot around the 89th minute and had to go off, per Gazzetta and Novasports.

Neestrup sounded pleased but careful afterwards. "We are starting to show good things with the ball. It is two games in a row in which we managed to create a lot of chances," he said (translated from Greek), per Novasports and Sport24. On the injuries, he called it very sad and said the club would wait for the medical tests to see how long Ounahi and Jagusic will be out, according to the same outlets. Louza called it a good result after the loss to Olympiacos and said the squad had talked about what needed fixing (translated from Greek), per Sport24 and Sportal.

Antonopoulos did not hide from it. He felt 2-0 at the break was harsh on his side, but said conceding straight after their goal hurt most. "It is not the first time that we score and immediately concede. It has happened three times," he said (translated from Greek), per Novasports and ERT Sports, calling 5-1 a heavy score for Asteras. Elsewhere, Olympiacos had won 2-0 in Agrinio earlier in the day, and AEK sit third on 14 points with a game in hand after their trip to Atromitos was postponed, per Sport24 and Sportal.

My take: Panathinaikos really were that much better, so the scoreline flatters nobody, but this afternoon will be remembered for a stretcher and a worrying limp as much as for five goals. Ounahi is the player who makes this attack tick, and Monday's scans now matter more than the table. The encouraging part is where the goals came from: a centre back, a midfielder, a striker, a full back and a substitute. After the derby defeat to Olympiacos, that kind of spread is exactly what Neestrup needed to see.

Next up, Panathinaikos travel to Kazakhstan to face Kairat Almaty on Thursday, October 22, in the second round of the Conference League league phase, per Sport24, after opening their European campaign with a 2-1 win over Borac. Then it is back to the league at Volos on Sunday, October 25, as Sport24 and Sportal listed. Keep an eye on our Greek Sports section for more from the Super League and beyond. Top of the table, and a long wait for Monday's scans.

Sources: Sport24, Gazzetta, Novasports, Sportal, in.gr, ERT Sports.

Image: Panathinaikos FC crest, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).