PAOK stunned by Guingamp to bid Europe goodbye

By George Georgakopoulos

PAOK crashed out of the Europa League, having the same fate as Panathinaikos and Asteras Tripolis, as it lost at home to France’s En Avant Guingamp on Thursday, to leave Olympiakos as Greece’s sole representative in the Round of 32.

PAOK was the only team of the three Super League clubs involved in the group stage of the Europa League that was left with a chance to qualify if it beat Guingamp, but the French won 2-1 at Toumba as they had Claudio Beauvue on fire.

The midfielder from Gouadeloupe scored the opening goal seven minutes after kick-off and the winner on the 82nd, with PAOK only managing to equalize on the 22nd through a Stefanos Athanasiadis penalty.

The Thessaloniki team should have wrapped the game up in the second half but it could not turn its chances into goals and paid for it. PAOK finished third in its group, behind Fiorentina and Guingamp.

Asteras Tripolis proved once again it is a team that is hard to beat, grabbing a goalless draw at Partizan Belgrade.

In their first Europa League group stage campaign the Peloponnesians finished third with six points, in a group that saw Besiktas and Tottenham Hotspur qualify.

Estoril punished Panathinaikos for the wasting of its goalscoring chances and snatched a 1-1 draw in Athens. The result left Panathinaikos without a win in the group stage and with just two points at the bottom of the group from which Dynamo Moscow and PSV Eindhoven advanced to the next round.

Kleber equalized three minutes from time for the Portuguese, after Panathinaikos could turn only one of its numerous chances into a goal, on the 55th through Nikos Karelis. The Greece striker also hit the woodwork twice during the match.