Total recall for PAO, 4-2 from 0-2

Under the watchful eye of the new coach, Jesualdo Ferreira, Panathinaikos turned over a lost match! After a very bad start, Iraklis was ahead 0-2 at 21΄, they managed to come back winning the match 4-2, with Djibril Cissé (scored 2) and Luis García at their best.

The “greens”, with Gmoch for the first and last time at their bench, picked up speed after the first goal by García (31΄), while the 2nd half was their best so far.

The game summary:

20΄: Mara shoots a left from a good spot inside the penalty area and… 0-1
21΄: Pitou García dismisses the “green” defense and completely unguarded eases a second goal for Iraklis… 0-2
31΄: Confusion in the defense for Iraklis, a powerful sharp shoot from Luis García and… 1-2
45΄: García delivers the corner, inactive defense for Iraklis, close header by Cissé… 2-2
50΄: A goal reading Cissé all over it. The French steals the ball in the middle of the field, passes it on to Spiropoulos who delivers a cross and Cissé with a wonderful jump heads it in for 3-2
75΄: An excellent assist by Katsouranis makes it easy for Petropoulos… 4-2

SCORERS: 31΄ Luis García, 45΄, 50΄ Cissé, 75΄ Petropoulos - 20΄ Mara, 21΄ Pitou García

REFEREE: Voskakis (Rethymno)

RED CARDS: 90+3΄ Soltani

YELLOW CARDS: 41' Plessis - 28' Kyriazis

PANATHINAIKOS: Tzorvas, Boumsong. Katsouranis, Vyntra, Spyropoulos, Gilberto, Plessis, Christodoulopoulos (68' Simão), Marinos (76' Karagounis), Luis García, Cissé (64' Petropoulos).

IRAKLIS: Eleftheropoulos, Kyriazis (46' Šišić), Katsiampis (80' Katsikas), Mara, Kanakoudis, Hosemi, Arampatzis, Yacob, Pitou, Danni (72' Kobayashi), Soltani.

Pateras

According to Nikolas Pateras the bad performances by Panathinaikos were the main reason for hiring Jesualdo Ferreira. The president of the “greens” thanked Jacek Gmoch and asserted that nothing will change with Sidney Govou.

«We were troubled by our performances so we hired Ferreira who is a good coach and who we expect will improve the team’s image. Mr. Ferreira will begin work tomorrow since we have a big match with Barcelona on Wednesday. I would like to thank Mr. Gmoch for committing himself to the team in a very tough period» said the president upon exiting OACA stadium.

In the question if the attitude against Govou will change with the new coach he stressed: «No question about it, the new coach does not change the disciplinary misconducts of the players».

Finally, when asked about the refereeing he underlined: «No comment, let’s keep a low profile».