Christos Lisgaras

Champion PAOK unexpectedly dropped two points on Sunday at the club it is alleged to share the same owner, Xanthi, and finished the regular season of the Super League seven points behind leader Olympiakos.

The Reds will therefore need eight wins in the 10 games of the playoffs to clinch the title. The playoffs begin on March 7 and the draw for the schedule will take place on March 3.

Olympiakos and Panionios lost their perfect record after three games in the Super League, and were joined at the top of the table by AEK, while Panathinaikos is going from bad to worse.

Defending champion Olympiakos could not hold on to an early lead at Xanthi and was held to 1-1 in the Greek league on Saturday.

Defender Bjorn Engels, in his debut for Olympiakos, opened the scoring when he headed the ball in following a Seba corner kick.

By George Georgakopoulos

PAOK has opened a five-point gap at the top of the Super League after beating Ergotelis in Crete, while Olympiakos dropped two more points away from home, this time at Asteras Tripolis.