The 2-0 victory of Asteras F.C. against Partizan on Thursday evening was the silver lining for the European campaigns of Greek football teams in the Champions League and Europa League.
On Wednesday Greek champions Olympiacos were defeated 2-0 in Sweden by Malmö, with the Reds having many complaints from match referee. Olympiacos defender Botia made a tragic mistake near the end of the first half, allowing the Swedish champions to open the score with Rosenberg (42’). In the second half Olympiacos increased its efforts, but team captain Yannis Maniatis was denied a penalty by the referee and Malmö striker Rosenberg scored another goal (82’) later in the game, sealing the win for his team.
On Thursday Panathinaikos faced Portuguese side Estoril Praia for the Europa League and met a 2-0 defeat, leaving the “greens” at the bottom of the 5th group. Panathinaikos coach Yannis Anastasiou faced many problems during the game, as his team’s defensive line suffered throughout the match. After a rather uneventful first half, Estoril forward Kléber put his team ahead in the 52nd minute of the game, while midfielder Diogo Amado secured victory with a second goal a few minutes later (66’).
Similarly, PAOK FC was unable to overcome Guingamp in France and was also defeated 2-0 in the group stage of the Europa League. French forward Sylvain Marveaux was the star man for Guingamp, scoring two goals in quick succession in the second half (47’, 50’), which did not allow the Greek team to fight back.
While the “big” Greek teams were all defeated, Asteras Tripolis defeated Partizan Belgrade 2-0 in Tripoli, thanks to goals by Fernando Usero (22’) and Facundo Parra (52’). The Tripoli team dominated the match and managed to hold out against the Serbian offensive line, thus maintaining an unbeaten European home record.
