Aris And AEK Play Out Entertaining Draw

In cooperation with Goal.com:

Goals, penalty claims, crossbars and lots of rain, the 1-1 draw between Aris and AEK on Sunday had it all!

Upon his return to the Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium, former Aris manager Dusan Bajevic made sure his AEK Athens team avoided defeat against his previous employers, as they played out an absorbing 1-1 draw in Thessaloniki.

Toni Calvo opened the scoring in what proved to be a an open and entertaining affair, substitute striker Edinho grabbing a late second half equalizer for the visitors.

First Half

Despite a typically rapid start to the match by the hosts, it was AEK who strung together the first discernible attacking move of the match – one that should have brought them the lead.

Pantelis Kafes managed to play Ignacio Scocco into the penalty area with a perfectly weighted pass, after the Argentine moved into the area untracked.

From close range however, he smashed the ball onto the crossbar and wasted a wonderful opportunity to give his team what would have been a seventh minute lead.

Aris should themselves have taken the lead on 14 minutes, though they were denied by the flag of the assistant referee.

Mario Regueiro diverted Javito’s low shot into the back of the net from close range, only to be adjuged offside despite appearing to have been played on by Vasilis Pliatsikas.

Their next move was considerably more stylish, Toni Calvo lifting the ball delicately over the AEK defence from a standing position and Sergio Koke blazing over the crossbar with a volley on the turn.

Neither side were able to assert their authority in a fast-paced but at times disjoined encounter, each wasting a series of promising attacking positions and half-chances.

AEK next came closest to opening the scoring, Tamandani Nsaliwa’s driven free-kick bouncing up for Sotiris Kyrgiakos in the penalty area, from where the Greece international saw his powerful halfovlley saved well by Michalis Sifakis.

Kyrgiakos’ central defensive partner Daniel Majstorovic then made an error that would cost his side the lead in Thessaloniki, as Toni Calvo opened the scoring just before half time.

The Sweden international missed a header as the ball flashed across the edge of the penalty box, falling to Calvo, the Spaniard playing a one-two with fellow countryman Koke before entering the area and sliding the ball into the far side of the net to give his team a 1-0 lead on 39 minutes.

Second Half

Enrique Hernandez’s men handed the initiative to their opponents at the start of the second half, looking to hit their opponents on the counter.

That plan almost paid off just after the hour mark, when Michalis Sifakis’ poor clearance from a corner lead to a rapid counter attack by the home side, lead by the in-form Javito.

It appeared as though the Spanaiard had lost all momentum as he approached the penalty area, AEK havi managed to get players behind the ball in sufficient quanitity.

However, Javito unleashed a dipping strike that beat the oustretched Saja before hitting the inside of both posts, Sergio Koke somehow contriving to miss the rebound from close range.

An increasingly more open game saw both sides beginning to construct rather than aimlessly clash bodies and chase after the football, substitute Edinho coming within inches of meeting Kafes’ measured ball into the penalty area.

The Portuguese forward’s introduction was the sudden catalyst for an excellent period in the game for the visitors and it was he who outjumped Karabelas to head home Manduca’s floated ball into the box on 71 minutes, making it 1-1 at the Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium.

With both sides now pushing men forward in search of a winner, Sergio Koke was typically busy just outside of the AEK penalty area, laying the ball off for Nacho Garcia to hit a first-time shot that slid just past Saja’s right post, before Regueiro pounced on a mishit Kyrgiakos clearance, his half-volley flash past the other upright.

With five minutes of normal time remaining, the visitors survived a legitimate penalty claim when Pantelis Kafes dragged Regueiro down as a set-piece was curled into the AEK penalty area from a dangerous position, the referee instead awarding a free-kick to Dusan Bajevic’s men.

Edinho then hit the crossbar in the 89th minute with a superbly struck free-kick that beat Sifakis before dipping wildly and bouncing off the woodwork, as Koke then found himself on the end of a Regueiro cross immediately at the other end of the pitch, the Aris captain heading into the ground and agonizingly wide of Saja’s top right-hand corner.

It was the last action of a match that had an appropriately frantic end, both sides looking to stretch each other with an attractive style of play literally until the final whistle was blown on an absorbing night f football in Thessaloniki.

Aris 1 (39’ Toni Calvo)
AEK Athens 1 (71’ Edinho)

Aris: Sifakis, Neto, Lembo, Ronaldo, Karabelas (73’ Garcia), Vitolo, Siston, Javito, Calvo (75’ Włodarczyk), Koke, Regueiro

AEK Athens: Saja, Kyrgiakos, Majstorovic, Juanfran, Pliatsikas (68’ Edinho), Kafes, Basinas, Scocco (40’ Djebbour), Nsaliwa, Blanco, Manduca (80’ Lagos)

Category: AEK Athens Team News

Tags: AEK Athens, AEK Athens Team News, Aris

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