Panathinaikos drew 0-0 with Maccabi Haifa at the “Sammy Ofer Stadium”, as part of the second match of the 6th group of the Europa League
Panathinaikos left the “Sammy Ofer Stadium” in Haifa “unscathed”, earning a “white” draw (0-0) in the 2nd matchday of the Europa League groups and in conjunction with Villarreal’s victory over Rennes with 1 -0, remained at the top of the standings and leads the race in the 6th group with 4 points.
Great performance from Alberto Brignoli who netted on four occasions, great performances from Tony Villena and Tin Gedvai on a night that saw the Greens get a result that keeps them in the top flight.
In the 7th minute, from deep balls in the back of the Panathinaikos defense, David scored from a distance with the ball narrowly going wide. In the 13th minute Brignoli showed very good reflexes on David’s shot, while a minute later, referee Antonio Nobre did not call a foul on the Italian goalkeeper, but Villena cleared well before the ball crossed the line.
Panathinaikos missed a huge chance to take the lead in the 17th minute, when after a fine free-kick by Vilena, Ioannidis rose above everyone else and headed home, but his effort was blocked by the crossbar and then the rebound. Arao’s shot went over the crossbar.
In the 20th minute, Maccabi tried to “hit” again with deep balls in the back of the “green” defense, with Halaili beating Juancar and shooting with the left, but Brignoli made another impressive intervention.
Panathinaikos started to steal more balls in the midfield and in the 26th minute they had another good moment, with Vilena shooting from outside the area and the ball going just wide of Keough’s left post.
In the 39th minute, due to a miscalculation by Huancar in Korno’s turnover, Halaili found himself in a shooting position and shot over the crossbars of Panathinaikos.
The “trefoil” players did not get on well in the second half either, with the Israelis pressing harder and David heading just wide after Halaili’s cross.
In the 59th minute from Cech’s deep ball, David got on Jedvai’s back and went into a lateral four-a-four, but Brignoli again impressively cleared with his right foot.
The goalkeeper of Panathinaikos made the save of the game in the 71st minute with Halaili’s header from two meters away, while in the 86th minute the “greens” came a breath away from the goal, when from a very nice combination of Vagiannidis and Djuricits, the young full-back “laid” the ball to Palasios, but his finish was blocked by Simic.
Referee: Antonio Nobre (Portugal)
Yellows: 2′ Sabia Dia, 54′ Kornou, 71′ Sudgren – 56′ Ioannidis, 60′ Djuricic (offside)
Discharges:
The compositions of the two teams:
Maccabi Haifa (Masai Dego): Keough, Sudgren, Simic, Cech, Kornou, Kafumana Shaw (68′ Ali Muhammad), Yamber, Sabia Dia (68′ Pierrot), Halaili (84′ Sibley), Suranov (46′ ltr . Series), David (76′ Refaelov).
PANATHINAICOS (Ivan Jovanovic): Brignoli, Kotsiras (78′ Vagiannidis), Senkefeld, Jedvai, Juancar (87′ Mladenovic), Arao, Cerin (67′ Djuricic), Vilena, Mancini (78′ Palacios), Bernard, Ioannidis (67′ Sporar).
