Galery

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Panathinaikos managed to secure an important 1:0 victory against Sturm Graz in the Europa League tournament on Thursday. Dimitris Salpiggidis scored a controversial penalty in the 61^st minute, bringing home the three points for the Greek team. Henk Ten Kate, manager of the Greens, was clearly satisfied with the score and did not miss the opportunity to praise Sturm Graz’s strong performance in defense. Despite the tempo of the game being rather slow, especially in the first half, Ten Kate was happy with his team’s performance and the goal scoring opportunities they created after half-time.

So far, Panathinaikos has had two victories in the tournament, against Dinamo Bucharest and Sturm Graz, and has conceived one defeat against Galatasaray. The Greeks are currently second in their group with six points, while Galatasaray leads with seven.

Panathinaikos’ latest victory in the continental tournaments has contributed to Greece’s upraise in the European Confederation table, where the Mediterranean country has replaced Denmark from the 13^th place.  If Greece manages to retain the position, the Superleague champion will be guaranteed direct qualification into the Champions League group stage for the 2011/2012 season.

The other Greek representative in Europa League, AEK, lost their game 2:1 in Minsk against the local BATE Borisov. The Greek side opened the score with a penalty realized by Blanco, but in the second half BATE Borisov came from behind to defeat 9 men AEK. The defeat means that AEK dropped behind Everton to fourth place with three points. Also with three, BATE has taken the third position on a better goal difference. Both sides will be face to face again in the next leg of the tournament, this time playing in Athens on the 5^th of November.