Panathinaikos Lose Ounahi Until 2027 With Severe Hamstring Strain

By Taki Panos

Panathinaikos spent Sunday celebrating a 5-1 win. Monday brought the bill. An MRI scan on Monday afternoon, October 19, confirmed that Panathinaikos midfielder Azzedine Ounahi has suffered a severe strain of the biceps femoris, the hamstring muscle, in his right leg, and he is now expected back only with the new year, as Gazzetta, Sport24 and SDNA all reported. Panathinaikos had feared the worst since Sunday night. The scan simply made it official.

For readers who do not follow the Greek league every week, Ounahi is the 26-year-old Moroccan international playmaker that Panathinaikos fans have adopted as one of their own. He first played for the Greens on loan in 2024-25, making 37 appearances with five goals and seven assists, according to the club's official website. After a season at Girona in Spain, he came back on a permanent transfer on September 2, 2026, signing a four-year contract, as both Panathinaikos and Girona announced. The club itself calls him the Moroccan magician.

The injury came in Sunday's 5-1 rout of Asteras Aktor at OAKA, early in the first half. Ounahi pulled up in a harmless looking moment while chasing the ball, held his head in his hands and had to leave the pitch on a stretcher, with Andrews Tetteh coming on in his place, Gazzetta and SDNA described. Panathinaikos went on to score five and return to the top of the Stoiximan Super League, but the mood at the final whistle was mixed for good reason.

The numbers behind the diagnosis are tough. Gazzetta reported that a strain of this kind means an absence of at least two and a half months, which takes him to the turn of the year. SDNA wrote that, according to the club's own update, his return is now expected in 2027, and Gazzetta added that the exact timing will depend on how he responds to treatment. In plain words, Panathinaikos will play the rest of the autumn without their most creative player.

Sport24 counted 15 matches left on the Panathinaikos calendar in 2026, and Ounahi is set to miss every one of them. The run starts on Thursday, October 22, away to Kairat Almaty in the Conference League, and ends with the home league game against Iraklis on December 20, per Sport24 and Gazzetta. In between, there is a Greek Cup tie at home to Aris on October 28 and a long list of league fixtures that will now be played without him.

The derbies are what will hurt most. Ounahi will be out for the league visit of AEK on November 1, the Greek Cup meeting with Olympiacos on December 2 and the trip to PAOK on December 13, as both Sport24 and Gazzetta listed. Gazzetta pointed out that the cup games matter less, since Panathinaikos are certain to continue in that competition, while the two league derbies are tied to the main goal of the season, which is the title.

Europe is a blow too. Gazzetta noted that Ounahi will miss all five remaining Conference League league phase games, against Kairat, CSKA Sofia, Nordsjaelland, Freiburg and Brighton, after the Greens opened the campaign by beating Borac 2-1. He would only be available again for the knockout playoffs or the round of 16, depending on where Panathinaikos finish. That is a long wait for a player who was signed with nights like these in mind.

There is one small consolation on the paperwork side. Under UEFA rules, a club can replace a player on its European squad list when the expected absence is at least 60 days, and Panathinaikos are using that option to add midfielder Pedro Chirivella in Ounahi's place, SDNA and Sport24 reported. The club did the same last season after Cyriel Dessers was injured, both outlets recalled. New signing Anass Salah-Eddine could not be added, because his transfer was completed in mid-September, after the list was submitted.

The rest of the medical news was brighter. Adriano Jagusic, the young Croatian attacking midfielder who felt a problem in his left hamstring soon after coming on Sunday, also had an MRI, and it showed nothing serious, Gazzetta, Sport24 and SDNA reported. He is not in the squad for Almaty but should be available for Sunday's league trip to Volos on October 25. Left back Victor Kristiansen has a minor problem and stays home as a precaution, which leaves Giorgos Kyriakopoulos as the only natural left back on the trip, per Gazzetta.

Messages of support came quickly. "We are with you. See you soon, magician," the football club wrote (translated from Greek), per Gazzetta and Sport24. The basketball side of the club, Panathinaikos AKTOR, posted its own wish in English: "Wishing you a speedy recovery @AzzedineOunahi. You will come back even stronger!" as Gazzetta and Sport24 both reported. It was a nice reminder that at a multi-sport club like this one, a football injury is felt across the whole green family.

If history is any guide, the comeback could be worth the wait. SDNA looked back at his record and noted that he has bounced back from long layoffs before. Last season at Girona, after a calf injury picked up with Morocco at the Africa Cup of Nations, he came off the bench against Alaves on February 23 and needed about five minutes to set up a goal for Viktor Tsygankov, as SDNA recalled and Spanish outlet Estadio Deportivo reported at the time. Mundo Deportivo's headline that week said he had returned through the big door.

My take: this is the worst kind of injury news for Jakob Neestrup, because Ounahi is the player who connects everything in this team, and the calendar until Christmas is packed with derbies and European trips. The encouraging part is that Sunday's five goals came from all over the pitch, with Imran Louza in superb form. Panathinaikos have the depth to stay near the top. Whether they have another player who can make something out of nothing is the real question.

Up next, the 24-man squad flies to Kazakhstan on Tuesday morning for Thursday's game with Kairat, SDNA reported, before the Greens head to Volos on Sunday. Keep an eye on our Greek Sports section for updates on Ounahi's recovery and the rest of the Super League. Get well soon, magician. The derbies will miss you.

Sources: Gazzetta, Sport24, SDNA, Panathinaikos FC, Girona FC, Estadio Deportivo, Mundo Deportivo.

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