AEK 2 Aris Thessaloniki 0

14th April 2024 – Greek Super League – OPAP Arena, Athens, Greece

Despite being only separated 4 miles, the stadiums of AEK and Panathinaikos might as well be in playing in different decades.  For all the run down charm of the Stadio Apóstolos Nikolaidas, you can only imagine what the club could be possible of if they had the facilities even half as good as AEK have at the Agia Sophia, or to give it is fully commercialised name, the OPAP Arena.

The stadium glistened in the setting sun as I made my way from the metro.  Fans were enjoying the warmth, sitting in the bars and restaurants around the stadium, under the watchful eye of a huge metal eagle, the clubs bird of choice.  A fully loaded club shop was doing a roaring trade in shirts, even at this late stage in the season.  I indulged in a hot dog which came as standard with hoisin sauce and crispy spring onions.  Sounds good? Tasted terrible.

It’s not always been plain sailing for the club in terms of facilities.  The 1999 earthquake damaged their old stadium, which sat on the site of the new one, then they were forced into a nomadic existence, playing at the Olympic Stadium for 18 years until the Agia Sophia was ready in 2022. And would you know, in their first season back at “home”, they only went and won the Super League and the domestic cup, a decade after bankruptcy had seen the club relegated to the third tier of Greek Football.

If outside was relatively sedate, in side with 30 minutes until kick off it was like walking into Glitterball in South Shields, minus the sticky carpet.  The fans were bouncing around to various high-energy pop classics.  The ground is a two tier uniform stadium, with the AEK hardcore fans mostly behind the north goal, with a small pocket at the far end volleying back songs at regular intervals.  There certainly didn’t seem to be many spare seats in the 32,500 capacity stadium, opened 18 months ago and is now the stadium of choice for the national team.

Yesterday saw the club celebrate their 100 birthday, with a big birthday party here in the stadium.  In the run up to kick off, various flags and displays were unfurled across the stadium, making me feel guilty I’d turned up with even a card, especially as the club had been so kind to give me media accreditation. Danny suggested petrol station flowers but it was too late for that, I was that person who arrives at a gathering empty handed.

Like the earlier game, this on paper should have been a foregone conclusion.  18 points separated the two sides, and with PAOK and Olympiakos not playing due to their European adventures, this was a golden chance for the home side to go top of the Super League.

It took them just eight minutes to break the deadlock.  Aris had hardly got the ball out of their own half and failed to clear their lines, allowing the AEK’s Hajsafi to to a maraud down the left and his low cross was met on the slide by Eze Ponce.

Five minutes later and Ponce had his second albeit in fortunate circumstances, with the ball hitting his knee as he attacked a free-kick and it rolled in past the outstretched arm of Julián in the Aris goal.  The crowd turned the volume up just in case anyone in North Macedonia could hear them.  The absence of any away fans was disappointing although the visit here in the Europa League had led to some unsavoury scenes post-match, with the AEK fans launching flares into the Seagulls fans from outside the stadium.

AEK came close to a third as the half progressed and had two good shouts for penalties when the Aris defence got a bit too “grabby” but they had to make do with a 2-0 lead at the break.  Aris had 29% of the possession and will probably have been grateful for that.

The first quarter of the second half was much the same.  Lots of AEK possession in the final third but rarely testing the Aris keeper. If it wasn’t for the noise generated by the home fans I would have dozed off, the 4am start from chez Fuller now in full effect. The final act saw a late surge of AEK pressure but no end product.  The visitors could head back to Thessaloniki with their pride in tact, having weathered the early storm.  The three points saw AEK return to the top of the table, with the Championship play-offs almost at the half way stage.

It’s a rare treat to get to see two top-flight sides in the same day but the early start had been more than worth it.  The atmosphere had been amazing, even if the football hadn’t.  Roll on a long overdue trip to Thessaloniki.