Against all odds, AEK Athens destroyed Peristeri in the Greek Cup
What happened yesterday in the Greek Cup is history. AEK Athens, former Champions League winner faced Peristeri in a do-or-die in order to advance to the Cup semifinals. A couple of days ago the favourites to win the battle were AEK, but slowly the odds start to drop on Peristeri. The explanation was easy: AEK had the roster decimated by covid and injuries and their lineup was extremely short.
In these circumstances, the new favourites were clearly the visitors, Peristeri Vitabiotics, with a complete roster with 6 foreigners and some experienced greek players as Dimitris Katsivelis, Linos Chrysikopoulos and Christos Saloustros.
At the game-time, AEK Athens were able to present a lineup formed by only 3 foreigners plus Nikos Pappas and Dimitris Flionis. Those five guys were good enough, but the problem was the bench which was extremely short. Only 3 Greek players could come and help the 5 starters of AEK. And we speak about modest Greek players that cannot do miracles on the court. Together they could score only 5 points against Peristeri.
The game should have been very unbalanced with an easy victory for Peristeri who recently brought in Steven Gray from Hapoel Holon as a reinforcement for the team. Peristeri also signed the experienced coach Milan Tomic and beating AEK in these circumstances had to be a must. But this is basketball, courage, focus and motivation can overcome any obstacles and AEK, even if they have many financial problems and missing players irrupted for an unbelievable 90-77. They will meet Olympiacos in the semifinals of the Greek Cup and I am sure this will be the end of the road for AEK in this competition.
Image credit: Basketball Champions League
Gratian Cormos is a Romanian life coach, journalist, book writer and mentor currently living in Barcelona, Spain. You can buy his book “How to bet on basketball” ordering by e-mail at: gratian_cormos@yahoo.com
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