csconstantine.com

ATHENS, Greece (AP)—Olympiakos took a giant step toward winning the Greek title for the 38th time with a 2-1 win over defending champion and archrival Panathinaikos on Saturday in a game that ended in chaotic scenes.

Rafik Djebbour’s injury-time goal sealed the win and put Olympiakos 10 points ahead of its second-place rival with seven rounds left.

The delirious Olympiakos fans charged onto the pitch at the final whistle and Panathinaikos players, already upset by a disallowed goal and the manner of the winner, claimed they were attacked.

Panathinaikos forward Djibril Cisse, one of the players allegedly attacked by the crowd, was so angry he told reporters he would leave Greece in a few months.

“Enough is enough,” Cisse told reporters after the game. “I have taken my decision. You (the reporters) should take advantage of the fact that these will be my last few months in Greece.”

Cisse was upset the referee chalked off Costas Katsouranis’ 81st minute strike for offside, and that Djebbour’s goal was allowed to stand. Panathinaikos players and officials claim Djebbour was in an offside position.

“We won the match. I know it, you know it,” Cisse told reporters.

About 400 Panathinaikos fans gathered outside Panathinaikos’ training facilities east of Athens and gave the players a standing ovation. They pleaded with Cisse to reconsider his decision.

Cisse, the Greek league’s top scorer last season, with 23 goals, and the leading scorer this season with 18, signed a four-year contract with Panathinaikos in 2009, reportedly worth ?2.5 million ($3.4 million) per year.

“It’s a shame, a great shame,” Panathinaikos midfielder Gilberto Silva said. A 2008 signing from Arsenal, Gilberto Silva, a Brazil national team member, is expected to return to his homeland after the season.

Panathinaikos officials were furious at referee Dimitris Kalopoulos.

“This was a clear robbery… They (the Olympiakos fans) hit four of our players, specifically (Cedric) Kante, (Josu) Sarriegi, (Sotiris) Ninis and Cisse. The authorities will be inexcusable if they do not slap Olympiakos with a heavy penalty,” Panathinaikos vice president Dimitris Gontikas said.

A Panathinaikos statement called the game a “sorry shadow puppet theater spectacle.”

Olympiakos president Vangelis Marinakis tried to downplay reports that he had a run-in with Panathinaikos players after the game.

“Get serious, guys, get serious,” he told reporters when asked about it.

“There should be no complaints,” Marinakis, a shipping tycoon, had said earlier. “We are ahead by 10 points (in the standings) and deservedly so.”

Djebbour struck a minute into stoppage time, chesting the ball down and scoring from close range to send the home fans into delirium.

The referee had to pause the game for four minutes as fans lit flares in the stands, causing smoke to billow across the pitch, and when the action resumed, Olympiakos had Vasilis Torossidis sent off for shoving Sebastian Leto.

Leto, a former Olympiakos player who moved to Panathinaikos in 2009, was the main target of the home fans’ ire during the game.

Reports suggested that a group of Panathinaikos players, upset by Torossidis’ treatment of Leto during the game, tried to confront the player afterward in the Olympiakos locker room, but instead ended up in a heated exchange with Marinakis.

Kevin Mirallas had opened the scoring for Olympiakos in the 20th minute before Leto equalized in the 58th.

Olympiakos dominated almost throughout the first half, with 63 percent of possession.

Mirallas opened the scoring in the 20th minute following a carefully orchestrated move from a freekick. The Belgian striker had positioned himself next to the defensive wall and bolted free to receive Ariel Ibagaza’s pass and shoot into the far corner of the goal.

That prompted the first stoppage by the referee as heavy smoke from the Olympiakos fans’ flares covered the pitch.

Leto equalized in the 58th. His curling freekick from near the right sideline was intended as a cross but teammate Josu Sarriegi missed his header, the Olympiakos defense failed to clear and the ball bounced in front of startled goalkeeper Urko Pardo before finding the net.

Panathinaikos thought it had scored a winner in the 81st when Katsouranis put the ball in the net but his effort was ruled out for offside—although replays suggested it was an incorrect decision.

And the visitors’ luck took another turn for the worse in injury time when Jaouad Zairi’s cross bounced off Dudu’s shoulder and into the path of Djebbour who scrambled it home under pressure from Sarriegi.

Also Saturday, Kerkyra won 2-0 at Asteras and host Kavala played to a scoreless draw against last-place Panserraikos.

On Sunday it’s Atromitos vs. Aris, Xanthi vs. Larissa, AEK vs. Panionios and Volos vs. Iraklis. The PAOK vs. Ergotelis game, originally scheduled for Saturday, has been postponed and no new date has been set.

Labels: beats, Greek, league, Olympiakos, Panathinaikos