For those who saw the match, under what circumstance is the "phantom" foul on Viera considered a penalty? I find it quite amusing that what should have been a yellow card on Viera for diving turned into a penalty kick and Arsenal's lone tally. Additionally, I may be mistaken, but isn't a hesitation/stop (ala Monsieur Henry) on the penalty kick approach grounds for a retake and a yellow card? Surprising match, though. Mighty Arsenal, the world's best team and virtually unstoppable in the incomprable English Premiership, struggling for a tie in Highbury with "lowly" Panathinaikos from that soccer backwater known as Greece.
Arse played average and panathiniakos played with 11 men behind the ball for 90 minutes ,scored a late deflected own goal .Hardly a "struggle" . I guess you got such a massive chip on your shoulder you gotta celebrate a 1-1 draw as some kind of massive chest beating victory . we'll see who goes through to the next round .
Problem is, Arsenal played "average" at Leoforos (Athens) also. Whole lot of average performances for the Premiership powerhouse. Maybe "Pana" had something to do with it? Then again, no way could a "lowly" Greek team even deserve to be on the same pitch as mighty Arsenal. But I'm using the Greek and English terms loosely. Looked on the pitch for Greek players and saw Chalkias, Vyntra, Kotsios, Kyrgiakos, Basinas, Konstantinidis, Papadopoulos,....., looked for English players and saw Cole.........? 11 men behind the ball? Did you see the match? Or is that just the standard English line as it relates to anything Greek? In the first half, time of possession (according to the Antenna broadcast) was evenly distributed and Arsenal did not have a shot on goal or even a corner. Doesn't sound like 11 behind the ball to me. You insinuate Pana was lucky (as it relates to the own goal), yet you completely disregard the "phantom" penalty awarded to Arsenal that accounts for their ONLY tally. Surely a team that dominates the MIGHTY premiership would be able to score more than one disputed goal from the penalty spot. Getting back to your assertion of 11 in the box, then how did Papadopoulos win the penalty from Cole that Basinas missed if Pana had 11 behind the ball? Happened in Arsenal's penalty area. Or how did Pana have 11 behind the ball when Vyntra's shot was deflected into Arsenal's goal? Happened in the Arsenal third of the pitch. Pana placed 11 behind the ball only in the last 15 minutes of the match after they had equalized in order to secure one point against the purported group powerhouse. How many teams would not do the same at Highbury? Whether or not it was a struggle could be plainly seen by all simply by sneeking a glance at the faces of Arsenal's supporters. The rest of the post is pure garbage from someone who comes on a SOUTHERN EUROPEAN forum to see what Greeks are saying about the match. As such, we all know who has the chip on the shoulder.
Anyone would think panathiniakos had a glorious victory with the way you're wanking yourself into a frenzy .Here was me thinking panathiniakos poached a late 1-1 draw with a deflected goal . I never questioned Panathiniakos' status or branded them "lowly" . So dont bother beating your chest about people saying they're a low ranked team .The 1-1 draw could be described as an aberation of usual form considering panathiniakos dismal record against english teams. http://galeb.etf.bg.ac.yu/~mirad/cgi-bin/EC/ecsearch.cgi?PG=&KG=&KU=0&RU=&D1=Eng&D2=Gre&T1=&T2= I dont consider you to be a real greek anyway .More like a plastic american "greek" with some distant heritage who decided to be greek after euro 2004 .Enjoy the 1-1 draw because that will most likely be the highlight of the season .
Seeing that you disregarded my initial and subsequent posts entirely, I'll do the same. An aberration (spelled with two r's) is that which deviates from the typical. Measuring these two teams against each other THIS year, one finds a previous draw (2-2 at Leoforos). Therefore, the Highbury result is consistent with, and not atypical of what was to be expected (not an aberration). The content of the original post was limited to the Henry penalty kick (which you did not respond to) and how surprising/easy it was for Pana to grab a point in Highbury. Where you saw that I claimed a glorious victory (or celebrated as such) is beyond me. In fact, a tie was quite disappointing considering the "phantom" penalty awarded to Viera (which you also didn't address), Basinas' missed penalty kick, and the fact that Aresenal could not even muster a shot on goal in the entire first half. As for the plastic comment, what do I care what some pimple faced 16 year old thinks sitting behind a pc? You have no idea, at least about my citizenship, ethnicity, etc....., nor does it concern me. Plastic is an appropriate descriptor for those with inferiority complexes severe enough to guide them to "foreign" forums searching for the slightest hint of that which may be deemed derogatory. In Greek, an appropriate descriptor is COMPLEXIKOS, a derivation of the word complex. Now why don't you just scurry along to the English forums. There are more than a few on these boards.
http://galeb.etf.bg.ac.yu/~mirad/cg...&KG=&KU=0&RU=&D1=Eng&D2=&T1=&T2=Panathinaikos Panathiniakos have only won one game in 16 attempts and never won in england.Typically you'd expect them to lose but this time they sneaked a draw .You even describe the game as "suprising" in the opening post .Ive never seen anyone get so cocky about a 1-1 draw before .THIS YEAR its typical for greece to lose to albania using your logic . Like I said ,enjoy the glorious draw .Its probably the best result that panathiniakos ever had in europe judging by your wild celebrations and chest beating about how "lowly" panathiniakos overcame the odds to get a mighty 1-1 draw .hey thats great .Wasnt enough to put panathiniakos ahead of arsenal in the table but I guess the 1-1 has earned you bragging rights for today . I dont care what "concerns you" .Apparently I came here to seek the opinions of greeks about the game .I dont see any greeks around here .Just a wannabe from chicago who has been greek since euro 2004. Plastic means fake .Nothing remotely close to your bizarre definition of the word . If only posters from southern europe were allowed to post on here then you wouldnt be allowed on here either .Your knowledge of one greek language word is very convincing I must say .lmao. That crushing putdown is really stop me posting here .ooohh what a vicious attack .
Wow ,the team reached the final 33 years ago .The arsenal draw must be a close second though .Arsenal have played 3 euro club finals in the last 10 years but you dont here anyone talking about those games .Arsenal are classed as chokers in europe by many people. anyway only 'this year' counts apparently . Yes apparently you're a fan of arch rivals AEK .Real fans of this club would no doubt hate panathiniakos and want them to lose . Its that your idea of irony than you dont have a clue what irony is.Putting words in double quotes doesnt equal irony . Maybe you think that fans of arsenal regard panathiniakos as "lowly" opposition .But that just isnt the case .Arsenal have a strong greek following believe it or not.I bet loads of panathiniakos fans who were in the away end are usually fans of the home team .
A missed penalty nontheless too. Arsenal are a fantastic club.....in England. Panathinaikos has a better European pedigree than Arsenal though. Arse just don't like Pana. Or Greece for that matter. Neither does Henry, with his STUPID stares into the crowd. Maybe he should save that 'look' until the end because the last 2 times he's looked like an idiot. Henry, great player, big ego, bad run ins with HELLAS.
Or maybe it was the racist chants coming from the Pana fans that made him react like that? Henry has stated the only goals in his career he has not celebrated were against Panathinaikos due to the racism he suffered....
You know what, any such things are unacceptable. No excuse if made. However his arrogance and ego are to blame partly IF he did receive the monkey chants he claims. In 2001 he caused quite a scene in Leoforos stadium and since then has scored 2 times and each time walked right in front of the fans and did that little stare. I highly doubt any Greek fan was making monkey calls in Highbury, yet he still did it. He got off pretty easy comparatively speaking if true. Maybe King Henry should concentrate on football and not on his ego.
Hang on - are you saying that he deserved the racist abuse due to his arrogance and ego? Racist abuse is not restricted to monkey chants - and yes, Henry clearly stated that he did receive racist abuse at Highbury from the Pana fans.
No. Such things are the work of ignorants and fanatics. Consider that Olisadebe, a PAO fan favourite (up there with Warcyza) heard it. A shame. Stupid people. But Henry did his best to egg those fanatics on. Push and ye shall receive. Racism at the Highbury match though I did not hear about till now. It's weird considering the fact that many Greeks there were UK Greeks, and even weirder considering the large Greek follwoing Arsenal has. I cheer for the Gunners in England too, and I think Henry is one of the best in the world, but he is an arrogant prick. In this day and age I don't know how racism in football exists to be honest with you. Personally I could think of a million better things to say to rile King Henry up other than stupid monkey chants. But, the mind of the fanatic is different....
Panathinaikos' home ground has been deemed unfit by UEFA for holding any more champions league games. Anybody know why? I went to the game against Kallithea at the weekend with Panathinaikos fan and bigsoccer newbie Gina K (very nice girl) and saw nothing wrong with the place. Ps, is there a law in Athens that states that all bars must be the size of a shoebox and filled with a number of people that would seem cramped inside the Maracana?
If Pana will be playing in homeground, then please beat Arsenal. I know Pana can do it! You are good enough to beat Arsenal.
Leoforos stadium IS unfit. It is a stadium with a fantastic history, but it is too old. It lacks parking and other facilities required by UEFA to host CL matches. The match against PSV will be the last European match hosted in the stadium. http://www.stadia.gr/leoforos/leoforos.html However the saga of a new ground for Panathinaikos has heated up after this decision. Sooner rather than later they will move into a new stadium in the Goudi district of Athens.
yeah, but what exactly makes it unfit? Parking can't be it because there's none at all Highbury for example. Age shouldn't be an issue unless the place is unsafe. It didn't look to be crumbling away anywhere. It just looks to me like UEFA don't want 'upstart' clubs knocking out the clubs the advertisers want to see in the latter stages, and are just putting obstacles in their path.
Hey friend you probably have been there more recently than me. I haven't seen Leoforos in years. I'm not quite sure, but it hasn't met CL requirements in some time the Greek papers say. It's a cosy stadium but it's high time Panathinaikos received a home that reflects it's status in Greece. This will light a fire under their arses. Talk of a new modern 40,000-45,000 stadium is circulating, so more power to them.