The scenario was the best for Olympiacos. Close the gap against their historic rival, Panathinaikos as a visitor. However, and although there was a lot of parity between both squads, little by little various aspects within the game began to be defined. James Rodríguez came out as the starter and began to guide the game of the rojiblancos in the classic.
For its part, Panathinaikos was the one who began to propose from the start. With Verbic and Sporar, they tried to get closer to the goal defended by Paschalakis, while Sokratis and the defenders took everything in the area. The first clear was from James Rodríguez at Olympiacos with a shot that was saved by the Italian goalkeeper, and one of the figures, Brignoli.
The infractions began to be constant by Olympiacos cutting the game. About 26 minutes in, Panathinaikos opened the scoring with Sebastián Palacios who hit it over Paschalakis and ended up hitting Ntoi’s hand in the background. It was annulled for a clear offside. The locals tried again with Palacios who sent a center and Sporar could not push it.
Already in the second half, the silhouette of Brignoli became giant with covers to Pep Biel that the Italian solved in a one-on-one with the Iberian. Sokratis was also able to break the zeros with a shot into the box just over the crossbar. Like James Rodríguez that Brignoli himself saved.
As in the first half, Sporar opened the scoring on a ball between two Olympiacos defenders, but again, the celebration was negated by a clear offside. About the end, the best moments occurred. At 83 minutes, Pep Biel took advantage of a loose ball and with a volley beat Brignoli, who this time could do nothing to reject the impact of the Iberian.
James Rodríguez came on in the 86th minute and when the sweet victory in the classic was savored and the distance shortened in the Greek League, Panathinaikos found the light at the end of the tunnel. An elbow from Ávila ended in a childish play that was ruled as a maximum penalty. Sporar was in charge of executing the charge and put the final tie at a goal.
