AEK Athens vs Panathinaikos Athens Match Preview
AEK’s 2-0 win over Panathinaikos in the first leg has Manolo Jimenez’s team with one foot in the semifinals. The two clubs share the Olympic Stadium in Athens and the first leg saw Panathinaikos as the home side, however AEK prevailed thanks to a brace from former Panathinaikos star Nikos Lymberopoulos.
That appears to be a big advantage at this stage as Jesualdo Ferreira’s Panathinaikos need a 2-0 win in order to push the match into extra-time or a 3-0 victory to advance to the semifinals. If AEK manage a goal on Wednesday then Panathinaikos will need to score four to go through.
That is all hypothetical at this stage, but surely AEK have the advantage even if their inconsistency this season suggests that nothing has been decided yet in regards to this tie. Though they were able to win comfortably against Xanthi this weekend 2-0 in Super League action, AEK were coming off an embarrassing 4-0 loss to Olympiakos Volos the previous week.
Panathinaikos also are not in their best form. They managed to defeat Ergotelis 2-0 on Saturday in league play thanks to a couple of set-piece goals, but at the moment seem a shadow of the team that came away with the domestic double last season.