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The atmosphere in Omonia before the match with PAOK for the fifth day of the Europa League groups was terrible. The bad image of the Cypriot team in the championship had brought amen to the fans, who sent messages … of intimidation before the match with ‘Dikefalos’ in ‘GSP’. “If you can’t manage Europe, don’t go down to the stadium on Thursday”, normally mentioned in their ad, while on social media they also expressed disappointment for Henning Berg. “If you had dignity you would go yesterday, they go home, you are lucky that the stadium is not crowded”…
At the same time, the Norwegian coach stated that “Our priority is the championship. We will also make changes, but we will be competitive. Monday’s game is more important. At first our priority was Europe. Now the championship is more important and we will make changes.”
By all accounts, the scenario that unfolded before the European qualifying battle seemed ideal for PAOK. Pablo García returned as a coach to the stadium where he made his debut as a footballer wearing the ‘Dikefalos’ shirt and in fact in a friendly with Omonia in the summer of 2008. Now the Uruguayan coach had the opportunity to lead his team to victory. that would keep her firmly in the grip of a ticket to No. 32 in the Europa League. Due to the dynamics, the roster, and the personalities, PAOK was the absolute favorite. He had even learned his lesson in the 1-1 draw between Toumba and the Cypriot team, which at the same time faced internal problems and its psychology was on the decline.
One would expect the … intimidation from Omonia fans to weigh on the feet of her players. The one who was ultimately the victim of intimidation by friends of the Cypriot team was PAOK. The messages came early, when just in the 9th minute, Kakoullis took advantage of the oligarchy of the visiting defense and the temporary intervention of Zivkovic, putting it 1-0. This was butter on the bread of the hosts, who live to defend their advantage in European matches. After all, they made it to the Champions League playoffs, where they crashed against Olympiakos.
The pressure had turned into motivation and creative stress for Omonia, who gave the ball to PAOK and threatened counterattacks. The Thessaloniki team managed to recover from the initial clash and drew with a goal from Tzolis, an ideal collaboration between Kantouri – Zivkovic, going to the locker room 1-1. Garcia and his players still had 45 minutes to get what they wanted, with no more room for error. The first, however, seems to have been made by the Uruguayan coach, leaving Swab in the locker room. If there is no injury problem, it does not seem reasonable to leave the Austrian midfielder out of the game. And this is because in a half court game, he is shown to be a midfielder who offers valuable solutions in creation.
In the second half, PAOK took the initiative, pushed, won the corners like candy, but in the open game they were extremely forced to create concern for Fabiano. Omonia warned in the 50th minute, when Zivkovic and a crossbar did not allow Sene and Tzionis to score. Whenever the ‘Dikefalos’ players tried, they found an answer from the hosts, who kept the final blow for last. Kantouri knocked out Loizou inside the area, Gometh accurately executed the last of the penalties and the 2-1 of 84 ‘did not change until the end. In combination with the 0-1 in Granada – Eindhoven, the PAOK epilogue was written in this year’s European adventure.
‘Dikefalos’ may not have been the favorite to qualify for a group with Granada and Eindhoven, but the fact that he was essentially excluded from Omonia (1 point in 2 games) makes his presence in the tournament a failure …
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