Both OFI and Panathinaikos are yet to win in the championship playoffs.

The two sides made a lively start to proceedings. In the 18th minute of play, Ricardo Vaz was denied by a diving save from Sokratis Dioudis, before Dimitris Kourbelis could only lash the ball high and wide when in a wonderful position for Panathinaikos.

Not long later, Tasos Chatzigiovanis came close to putting Panathinaikos in the driving seat, but he failed to make contact with Macheda’s dangerous cross from the left flank.

Panathinaikos once again passed up a great opportunity to make the breakthrough in the opening stages of the second stanza.

When getting his head on a ball from the right flank, Macheda almost caught OFI goalkeeper Oscar Whalley cold, but the latter was relieved to see the crossbar come to his rescue after he somewhat made a mess of the situation.

The Athenians thought they had taken the lead in the 61st minute. After receiving a clever pass, Macheda managed to stroke the ball into the far left corner, but the goal was ruled out for an offside call.

The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system would once again disappoint Panathinaikos with the minutes ticking by on the clock.

Escaping the OFI defence, Kampetsis found himself clean through, subsequently sending his ensuing attempt between Whalley’s legs. However, after a VAR review, it was determined that the ball had been directed into Kampetsis’ path by Perea’s arm.

In their next match, OFI will face Olympiacos in Piraeus, while Panathinaikos will compete against Aris at the Olympic Stadium.

THE TEAMS

OFI: Whalley, Korovesis (Marinakis 69’), Giannoulis, Koutroubis, Braun, Neira, Mellado, Semedo (Manos 43’), Nabi (Staikos 68’), Vaz (Deligiannidis 90+2’), Figueiredo.

Panathinaikos: Dioudis, Chatzitheodoridis, Schenkeveld, Kolovetsios, Theocharis (Perea 78’), Kourbelis, Ayoub (Alexandropoulos 82’), Chatzigiovanis, Bouzoukis (Seprezis 82’), Kolovos (Anuar 63’), Macheda (Kampetsis 83’).

credits: www.agonasport.com