Panathinaikos knocks PAOK off the Super League top

Panathinaikos beat PAOK 2-0 in Athens on Sunday and brought the champion down from the top spot where Olympiakos has returned as the Super League unfolds in a particularly exciting fashion despite the behind-the-scenes war between the two title rivals.

The Greens satisfied their 25,000 fans at the stands as they not only held PAOK scoreless for the first time after 70 league games, but also scored twice in the first 11 minutes of the second half, through a Federico Macheda penalty kick and a Tasos Hatziyiovanis strike.

What appeared some six weeks into the season as unlikely, i.e. that Panathinaikos would make the top-six who enter the league title playoffs, is now a near certainty, as the Greens need just a win in the four remaining games of the regular season to do that. They currently lie fourth after their fifth consecutive league win, while PAOK has dropped two...