Party day for Olympiakos, while its rivals drop points
Olympiakos celebrated on Sunday its centenary with a home win that opened further its gap at the top of the Super League table from its rivals who all dropped points at the final round of games of the regular season.
The Reds defeated 10-man OFI Crete 1-0 at a full Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium that partied for Monday’s anniversary marking 100 years since the Piraeus club was founded.
The game’s only goal came from a penalty kick by Rodinei toward the end of the first half, and meant that Olympiakos is now taking a seven-point lead over AEK at the playoffs.
That was after AEK was also left with 10 men in Thessaloniki and shared a goalless draw with host Aris.
Third-placed Panathinaikos was narrowly spared a road loss at Peristeri, as it drew 1-1 with Atromitos. The host led with Denzel Jubitana and Nemanja Maximovic salvaged a point for the Greens.
PAOK could not do even that, as it lost 2-1 at Athens Kallithea despite securing an early lead with Kiril Despodov. Kallithea took a stride toward safety with goals from Migouel Alfarela and Giannis Loukinas.
In other games on Sunday, Panetolikos drew 0-0 with Levadiakos, Lamia won a six-pointer against Volos 1-0, and Panserraikos triumphed 2-1 at Asteras Tripolis.
The teams are now split into three zones: The top four will fight it out for the title, those between the fifth and the eighth place will vie for a spot in Europe, and the last six teams will try to avoid relegation.
In the title playoffs, Olympiakos is entering the six-round mini-league with 60 points, AEK has 53, Panathinaikos is on 50 and PAOK 46.
For the 5-8 playoffs, Aris is entering the process with 21 points (as the regular season tally is halved in this one), while OFI, Atromitos and Asteras start with 18 points.
The playouts have six teams entering the battle to avoid the drop with their regular season point tally: Panetolikos starts on 33, Levadiakos and Panserraikos have 28, Volos is on 22, Athens Kallithea has 21 and Lamia 15.
Kathimerini
