Bad week gets a whole lot better

By: Chris Paraskevas | September 1st, 2008

Wonderful! Simply wonderful!

There could not have been a more appropriate response by Donis’ players to one of the most tumultuous weeks in the club’s recent history, as our beloved Enosis outfought, outplayed and out-enthused a woeful PAO outfit on Sunday evening.

As expected, it wasn’t an attractive game of football by any stretch of the imagination but I am not for a minute complaining. AEK defended superbly and were ultra-disciplined and organized and it was particularly satisfying to see captain Daniel Majstorovic pick this match to produce his best performance yet in an AEK jersey. Kyrgiakos was typically bullish whilst Basinas at times provided a calming influence in midfield and whilst he gave the ball away a little too often, certainly didn’t shirk away from 50-50 challenges in the center of the park.

Meanwhile, Donis has earned his stripes and temporarily silence critics with his tactical decisions today, with his introduction of youngster Pliatsikas for Kafes a masterstroke. There were certainly plenty of positives to take away from the performance and with Djebbour having just joined, perhaps a legitimate challenge for the Protathlima isn’t out of the question?

Our credentials will nonetheless be given a stern test at the Toumba in two weeks time…

AEK Athens 2 (Edinho 20′, Blanco 45+3′), Panathinaikos 1 (Karagounis 90+3′)

AEK Athens: Saja, Edson Ramos Silva, Majstorovic, Kyrgiakos, Juanfran, Rikka, Basinas, Pliatsikas (87’ Kafes), Blanco, Edinho (66’ Lagos), Scocco (90+1’ Alexopoulos)

Panathinaikos: Galinovic, Moon, Vyntra, Sarriegi, Spyropoulos, Simao, Gilberto Silva, Salpiggidis (69’ Petropoulos), Kargounis, Gabriel (46’ Ninis), Souza (86’ Ivanschitz)

PS. Intersting to note that Inter boss Joes Mourinho was in the stands rubbing shoulders with Nikolaidis. If he was scouting Panathinaikos ahead of the start of the UCL Group Stages, he certainly needn’t worry on the basis of this performance

The highlights: