The game was more like a game of chess than football. Neither team was in the mood to take risks, resulting in a match that for the large part did not feature many clear scoring chances at either end. AEK in fact had the ball in the net in the first half, but their first «goal» was ruled out for offside following a VAR review which confirmed the decision.
AEK though, seemed to have found the solution. On a counter-attack with just eight minutes to go, they opened the scoring. Levi Garcia dribbled down the right and crossed for Simoes, who scored with a low shot on the move. The goal survived a VAR review and everyone in the AEK camp believed at this point that this time at least, it would be the home side that would progress at the expense of PAOK.
The AEK goal seemed to act as a catalyst for Lucescu’s players. The composure was still there even as the clocked ticked down.And then Jasmin Kurtic came to the fore once more. The Slovenian has taken it upon himself to lead the team since the beginning of the season, and he was the man with the solution again. And what a goal he scored. After bringing the ball under control inside the left-hand side of the penalty area, Kurtic then curled home an incredible goal which clipped the post on its way into the back of Tsintotas’ net.
And so Mitrita took possession of the ball for the last attack of the game, skipped past a couple of tired AEK players on the edge of the penalty area and scored an equally impressive curled effort with his right boot to make the final score 2-1 to PAOK, putting his own stamp on an unforgettable game.
AEK - PAOK 1:2
1:0 Simoes 83' ; 1:1 KURTIC 95'; 1:2 Mitrita 97'
Team lineups:
AEK: Tsintotas, Rota (90 ‘Michelin), Mitoglou, Tzavellas, Hadjisafi, Simanski, Simoes, Amrabat (93’ Ansarifard), Tsouber, Garcia, Araούjo (90 ‘Le Talek)
PAOK: Paschalakis, Lyratzis (63′ Sastre), Crespo, Ingason, Sidcley (93′ Murg), Tsingaras (63′ Mitrita), Kurtic, Augusto, A. Zivkovic (82′ Vieirinha), Akpom, Biseswar
source text : paokfc.gr