Jose Holebas and Colin Kazim-Richards scored to help defending champion Olympiakos win 2-0 at OFI and overtake Panathinaikos at the top of the Greek league on Sunday.
Panathinaikos, playing before empty seats in Athens’ Olympic Stadium because of fan trouble, lost 2-0 to PAOK in its first home defeat this season.
Lino opened the scoring for PAOK in the 52nd minute with a penalty and set up Dimitris Salpingidis for the second goal in the 83rd.
Olympiakos is a point ahead of Panathinaikos and 13 in front of third-place PAOK with seven rounds left.
In other games, Asteras beat Ergotelis 3-0, Levadiakos hung on to defeat Kerkyra 4-3 and last-place Drama beat Kerkyra 1-0.
In Athens, Panathinaikos dominated possession but was often sloppy in attack and faced PAOK’s determined veteran goalkeeper, Costas Halkias, who made a series of great saves. Most notably in the 42nd minute from a shot by Lazaros Christodoulopoulos and to a header from Toche in the 67th.
PAOK opened the scoring through Lino’s penalty after Josu Sarriegi had brought down Alexandros Athanasiadis in Panathinaikos’ area.
It was Lino who provided the cross that allowed Salpingidis to make it 2-0 from close range.
Panathinaikos received a penalty when Pablo Garcia brought Christodoulopoulos down in injury time, but Halkias saved the fouled player’s spot kick.
“This was the kind of game where the first team to make a mistake would pay for it,” PAOK coach Laszlo Boloni said.
A visibly upset Panathinaikos coach Jesualdo Ferreira focused on the empty seats after the game.
“This is the fourth time since I came to Greece that my team has played in front of empty stands. This (sanction) is made way too easily and punishes the team itself. The federation should find another way to control a small group of fans who behave badly. And is it just our fans who are bad and not others?” he asked.
In Iraklio, Crete, Olympiakos survived an early scare in the sixth minute when Mirnes Sisic’s shot went just wide but dominated for most of the rest of the game.
In the 45th minute, Olympiakos nearly scored after Ibagaza crossed from the left to Vassilis Torosidis, but goalkeeper Polychronis Vezyridis saved the shot. Seconds later, Holebas gained the ball on the right flank and unleashed a swerving shot from 30 meters (yards) which landed in Vezyridis’ top left corner for the opening goal.
In the 54th, Holebas released Djamel Abdoun on the left and he crossed for Kazim-Richards to tap into the net.
OFI’s best chance came when Jordi Lopez’s blistering shot was deflected onto the crossbar by goalkeeper Balasz Megyeri in the 65th, the ball bouncing off Megyeri and just wide of the right post.
