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Monday, January 12, 2015

Olympiacos Crowned First Round Champions (Standings and Top Scorers)

Olympiakos is named the first round’s champions of the Greek SuperLeague, an accomplishment that in reality has no effect besides irritating the rest of the league´s clubs. Throughout the whole season Olympiakos’ inconsistency has let PAOK sit in first place. The Thessalonians deservingly stood atop of the league as they played spectacular football tipping opponents with four and five goals at times but the result would have been entirely different if the 2014 Champions took their games more seriously. With the sack of Michel and just as matchday 17 ended, the reds beat Skoda Ksanthi 1-3 and regained top spot as PAOK lost its third in six games and dropped two points below them. At the same time, Panathinaikos sitting at third place, reminded us of his early 00´s team when at halftime was already up 5-0 against Ergotelis. Marcus Berg’s return in the starting eleven gave the greens the moral elevation they badly needed and with a hat-trick lead the greens to an outstanding result, last seen by them in 2002 when they beat Panachaiki 8-0 (5-0 at halftime). A few points below at fourth place we meet Asteras Tripolis, a club which less than a decade ago was hopping between amateur and semi-amateur divisions and now is silently luring at the championship trophy. Asteras demolished PAOK in Tripoli (3-0) in a game which the black and whites have massive complaints about the referee’s decisions and rightly so in our opinion. However, it’s a common secret that PAOK has been unable to sustain the pressure of first place and in addition to its weak bench is now deflating its hopes to win their first trophy since 2003 (Greek Cup). In the first time in ages, Olympiakos has been easily dropping points home and away something unrecognizable for the Greek champions. As a result, the championship battle has turned into an interesting scramble in which PAOK, Panathinaikos and Asteras are lurking, waiting for the moment that the reds will lose their might. Top Scorers (Name, Matches, Goals) 1.Mitroglou Kostas 13/10 2.Athanasiadis Stefanos 14/9 3.Kaltsas Nikos 17/8 4.Karelis Nikos 16/7 5.Giannou Apostolos 16/7 6.Pereira Fakoundo 24/7 Standings 1. Olympiakos Piraeus  39 2. PAOK  37 3. Panathinaikos  33 4. Asteras Tripolis  31 5. Panaitolikos  28 6. Veria  26 7. PAS Giannina  25 8. Atromitos  25 9. Xanthi  25 10. Kalloni  23 11. Platanias  21 12. Kerkyra  21 13. OFI  20 14. Levadiakos  18 15. Panionios  15 16. Panthrakikos  14 17. Ergotelis  11 18. Niki Volos  7


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com