Panathinaikos Beat Borac 2-1 in Conference League Opener

By Taki Panos

Most teams wait a while for their first penalty of a European campaign. Panathinaikos got two inside the opening ten minutes on Thursday night, and still made the evening harder than it needed to be. The Greens beat Borac Banja Luka 2-1 at the Olympic Stadium in Athens on Matchday 1 of the Conference League league phase, as Gazzetta reported. Cyriel Dessers scored from the spot in the 10th minute, Kings Kangwa doubled the lead in the 70th, and Miloš Jojić pulled one back for the Bosnian side ten minutes later.

This came four days after a painful Sunday. Panathinaikos lost the derby 1-0 at Olympiacos, as we covered here, and the club's results page lists it right above this one. On the eve of the game, coach Jacob Neestrup did not hide from it. "It is important, especially after a defeat, to get a win," he said, per in.gr (translated from Greek), adding that the derby was lost because his team was far from its usual level. Fair enough. Thursday was about answering that.

The answer started in the third minute, sort of. Azzedine Ounahi slipped a lovely pass through to Dessers, who was brought down by Sebastián Herrera as he shaped to shoot. Hungarian referee Bence Csonka let play go on, but VAR official Tamás Bognár sent him to the monitor, Gazzetta wrote, and the penalty was given. Vicente Taborda, who had missed one against PAOK and scored one against Kifisia, stepped up. His kick was not a good one, and Mladen Jurkas saved it in the sixth minute, in.gr reported. Not the plan.

Then football repeated itself. Ounahi found Dessers with another through ball, Bart Meijers took him down inside the box, and VAR stepped in again, according to Gazzetta. This time the striker picked up the ball himself and sent it into the bottom right corner for 1-0, as Sky Sports' live commentary recorded it. Two penalties won by the same player within about four minutes, one saved and one scored. Nobody minded the change of taker.

The goal was a small milestone for Dessers, too. It was his 11th goal in 14 group stage or league phase games in the Conference League, Gazzetta noted, which puts the Nigerian international level with Olympiacos striker Ayoub El Kaabi. Only Vangelis Pavlidis, with 12 from his AZ Alkmaar days, and Lech Poznan's Mikael Ishak, with 13, have more. Ten of Dessers' goals came in one season, 2021-22, when he helped Feyenoord reach the final against Roma in Tirana. This competition suits him.

After that, Panathinaikos controlled the first half without adding to the lead. Borac's first real moment came in the 17th minute, when Stefan Savić wriggled free in the box and forced a save from Iñaki Peña, Gazzetta's match report said. Kangwa headed a Georgios Kyriakopoulos cross over the bar, Taborda shot straight at Jurkas, Giuliano Calabria was off target, and Kyriakopoulos tried one with his weaker foot that Jurkas pushed away. It was 1-0 at the break, and it should have been more.

Vinko Marinović's side, set up in a 4-3-3, had their best chance early in the second half. In the 51st minute captain Siniša Saničanin was left alone at a set piece, but his header went just wide, per Gazzetta. In the 66th minute Kangwa beat a man and fed Taborda, whose shot was saved again, and Dessers could only find the side netting from the rebound. A minute later Neestrup sent on Andrews Tetteh and Levi García, with Dessers and Taborda making way, Sky Sports and FotMob both showed.

The second goal was worth the wait. Panathinaikos moved the ball quickly through midfield, Santino Andino cut it back from the left, and Kangwa finished with his left foot in the 70th minute, as Gazzetta described it. According to Novasports, it was the Zambian midfielder's second goal for the club, and his first came against Kifisia in the league, also from an Andino assist. Those two are finding each other on purpose now.

Then the evening got nervous. In the 80th minute Luka Juričić rolled the ball to Jojić, who was unmarked just outside the box and drove a right-footed shot into the bottom left corner, per Gazzetta and Sky Sports. Gazzetta blamed Panathinaikos' inertia (translated from Greek), and it is hard to argue. In the same minute Neestrup brought on Elmin Rastoder and Adriano Jagušić for Andino and Ounahi. Borac did not seriously threaten again, but nobody relaxed until the whistle.

The numbers were lopsided. FotMob had Panathinaikos at 62 percent possession with 31 shots to Borac's four, nine on target to two, 11 corners to none, and an expected goals figure of 3.80 to 0.23. FotMob also gave Kangwa the top rating of the night at 8.8, and Gazzetta named him its MVP while praising Ounahi for creating both penalties. The win is also worth money: every league phase victory brings 400,000 euros, which takes the club's European earnings this season past 6.3 million, Gazzetta calculated.

These two clubs have history in this competition. They met two years ago, when Tasos Bakasetas scored for Panathinaikos in a 1-1 draw in Banja Luka on October 3, 2024, according to Sky Sports. This time the Greens took all three points at home, and BBC Sport also listed the 2-1 full time score. In a league phase, home wins are the ones you simply have to bank.

My take: I will take the win, and I will take the reaction after Sunday. Ounahi was sharp, Kangwa looked like the midfielder Panathinaikos have been waiting for, and Dessers did what strikers do. But 31 shots and two goals is a finishing problem, and a 3.80 xG night should never end with you watching the clock. The penalty question needs a clear answer, too. Taborda has now missed against PAOK and Borac. None of that spoils the night. It just keeps it honest.

Next up is a long trip to Kazakhstan to face Kairat Almaty on Thursday, October 22, at 17:30 Athens time, before CSKA Sofia come to Athens on November 5, per Gazzetta's schedule. For more on the Greens, the Greek national teams and Greek athletes around the world, keep an eye on our Greek Sports section. Two penalties, one goal, three points. On to Almaty.

Sources: Gazzetta, in.gr, Sky Sports, FotMob, Novasports, BBC Sport, Panathinaikos FC.

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