The big match of Day 1 of the Greek Men’s Championships was an encounter between the 3rd-placed team in the last season, Panionios, and the reigning champion Olympiacos. But, the derby lacked excitement. Igor Milanovic debuted on Olympiacos’ bench with a 14:3 victory.
Most of the favorites recorded wins, but there were a few exciting games.
2022/23 Greek League, Day 1
Group A
Panionios – Olympiacos 3:14 (1:6, 1:1, 0:3, 1:4)
Panionios: Kalaitzis 1, Papakos 1, Gounas 1.
Olympiacos:Filipovic 3, Mourikis 2, Kolomvos 2, Fountoulis 2, Grammatikos 2, Genidounias 1, Dervisis 1, Gkillas 1.
Nireas Chalandriou – Panathinaikos 3:11 (2:5, 0:0, 0:2, 1:4)
Nireas Chalandriou: Pantazopoulos 2, Negiz 1.
Panathinaikos: Hatzigoulas 3, Tzelatis 2, Adzic 2, Albertis 2, Deuterios 1, Sgouridis 1.
Ydraikos – AEK 5:8 (0:1, 2:2, 2:4, 1:1)
Ydraikos: Garanis 3, Kontonis 1, Bertolis 1.
AEK: Kokkinakis 2, Vukcevicc 2, Natsoulis 1, Papakos 1, Stellatos 1, Araya 1.
Ethnikos – Chios 10:9 (2:3, 2:2, 4:3, 2:1)
Ethnikos: Katsagounos 2, Beristianos 2, Tesanovic 1, Theodosis – Papaloukas 1, Papadogonas 1, Vitellas 1, Mathiopoulos 1, Vallianatos 1.
Chios: Halajian 3, Tzorgis 2, Karakasis 2, Yaksinovich 1, Hatzistefanou 1.
Olympiacos, with the new coach Igor Milanovic, took off to a flying start into the season. Panionios’ fans dreamed of a surprise, but Olympiacos killed all suspense quickly. Less than three minutes of the game passed and Olympiacos already had a 3:0 lead. By the end of the first period, the Red Whites increased the margin to five. After a balanced second quarter, Olympiacos’ defense, commanded by the best goalkeeper of the European Championships Marko Bijac, was excellent, while attack did its job well. The visitors netted seven unanswered goals, and went to 14:2. Just 14 seconds before the end, Gounas scored the third goal for Panionios and set the final score – 14:3.
Panathinaikos was too strong for the newcomer to the A1 League Nireas Chlandriou (11:3). AEK recorded an away win, as well as Olympiacos and Panathinaikos, beating Ydraikos.
The most exciting match in the group was an encounter between Ethnikos and Chios. The visitors led 5:4 at halftime, but Ethnikos equalized before the final break (8:8), and went in front at the beginning of the fourth quarter (Katsigounos scored for 9:8). Halaijan leveled at 9:9. In the 28th minute, Tesanovic gave Ethnikos a 10:9 lead. It turned out that it was the last goal in the match.
Group B
Peristeri – Glyfada 8:9 (3:2, 2:1, 1:1, 2:5)
Peristeri: Karounzos 6, Chrysospathis 2.
Glyfada: Angortsas 4, Papapostolou 2, A. Iliopoulos A. 1, Sargetakis 1, Pouros 1.
Vouliagmeni – PAOK 13:5 (3:0, 3:1, 4:1, 3:3)
Vouliagmeni: Kourovanis 3, Chalyvopoulos 2, Kapotsis 2, Kastrinakis 1, Kalogeropoulos 1, Nikolaidis 1, Papasifakis 1, Alafragkis 1, Almyras 1.
PAOK: Mildarovic 4, Charalambopoulos 1.
Chania – Apollon Smyrnis 6:14 (2:4, 2:5, 0:2, 2:3)
Chania: Charitakis 2,Agiorgousis 2, Nikolaidis 1, Da Silva 1.
Apollon Smyrnis: Bogdanovic 3, Alamanos 3, , Gardikas 2, Goniotakis 2, Solanakis 2, Chondrokoukis 1, Vickovic 1.
Palaio Faliro – Ilysiakos 12:9 (3:2, 3:2, 1:3, 5:2)
Palaio Faliro: Kourliaftis 3, Tot 3, G. Papadopoulos 3, Radulovic 2, Kalis 1.
Ilysiakos: Tsistrakis 4, Xylas 2, Kranias 1, Lembesis 1, Sfikakis 1.
The match Vouliagmeni-PAOK was a clash of two coaches who were teammates. Vladimir Vujasinovic has led Vouliagmeni since this summer, while Theodoros Chatziteodoru has been PAOK’s coach for a few seasons. The two were teammates in Partizan 11 years ago when the Belgrade-based team won the Champions League. Vouliagmeni was the favorite and didn’t leave any chance to PAOK. The hosts dominated from the beginning and recorded a 13:5 victory.
Glyfada earned an important and hard-fought away win. Peristeri hosted Glyfada. Peristeri controlled the match. The hosts led 5:2 at halftime and maintained a 3-goal advantage until the middle of the fourth period – 8:5. But, Glyfada scored the last four goals in the game. Papapostolou scored a winner with 32 seconds left on the clock and Glyfada went home with three points in the pocket.
Apollon Smyrnis found it easy to beat Chania, while Palaio Faliro was better than newcomer Ilysiakos.
