António Gil

Central Midfielder - Panathinaikos
19 Sep 2038
Sunday
Process

Marked for António Gil

633 Edition

The Panathinaikos Post

13 Sep 2038
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

António Gil leads the rout of AEL Larisa

7‑4, and António Gil took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Panathinaikos tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Squad

Apostolos Tachtsidis damages knee ligaments — 64 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 64 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Player ratings

Giorgos Katris scores twice — 9.12

Two goals and a mark of 9.12 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

A brace, and António Gil takes the afternoon — 9.14

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. António Gil provided it, and the 9.14 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Facundo Pellistri yet — 9.14

At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.14 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Facundo Pellistri in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Nobody wants to play Panathinaikos right now

3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Squad

Oliver Sørensen falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

11 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Panathinaikos and AEL Larisa in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

In brief

Back issues
632 Edition

The Panathinaikos Post

6 Sep 2038
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Apostolos Tachtsidis damages knee ligaments — 73 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 73 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Altay Bayındır

There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Andrej Ilić yet — 8.52

At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.52 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Tempers go at Panathinaikos

Facundo Pellistri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Market

Altay Bayındır wants more than Panathinaikos are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Altay Bayındır signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Altay Bayındır commits to Panathinaikos for another 2 years.

Player ratings

One of those days for Giorgos Katris

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.44, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Player ratings

A masterclass from António Gil

Marked 9.38 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Match

Panathinaikos find a way past OFI

OFI made Panathinaikos work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

In brief

607 Edition

The Panathinaikos Post

15 Mar 2038
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Adriano Jagušić

16 goals and a season average of 8.05 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Match

A European lesson for Panathinaikos

1‑2 against Partizan. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Altay Bayındır

There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Squad

Tempers go at Panathinaikos

Facundo Pellistri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Adriano Jagušić falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Market

Only the photograph left for Daniele Petrone

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniele Petrone will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Panathinaikos the goodbyes have quietly begun.

In brief

603 Edition

The Panathinaikos Post

15 Feb 2038
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Adriano Jagušić is carrying Panathinaikos

16 goals and a season average of 8.05. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Player ratings

Adriano Jagušić scores twice — 9.90

Two goals and a mark of 9.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Both of them António Gil's — 9.08

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.08, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Anass Zaroury, 37, rolls back the years — 8.31

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.31 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Squad

Tempers go at Panathinaikos

Facundo Pellistri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Market

Altay Bayındır raises the bar for Panathinaikos

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Panathinaikos heard it as anything else.

Match

Panathinaikos get the job done against Atromitos

A 6‑4 win over Atromitos, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Squad

Adriano Jagušić falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

10 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Panathinaikos and Atromitos in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

In brief

602 Edition

The Panathinaikos Post

8 Feb 2038
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Giorgos Katris is carrying Panathinaikos

21 goals and a season average of 7.84. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Squad

12 seasons of Anass Zaroury

383 appearances across 12 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Panathinaikos know what they have.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Altay Bayındır

There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Player ratings

Andrews Tetteh, 36, rolls back the years — 8.04

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.04 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Market

Anass Zaroury wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Panathinaikos hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Facundo Pellistri in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Only the photograph left for Daniele Petrone

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniele Petrone will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Panathinaikos the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Match

Panathinaikos get the job done against Kifisia

A 3‑2 win over Kifisia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Giorgos Katris

Marked 9.27 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

In brief

600 Edition

The Panathinaikos Post

25 Jan 2038
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Adriano Jagušić leads the rout of Levadiakos

5‑1, and Adriano Jagušić took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Panathinaikos tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Adriano Jagušić

14 goals and a season average of 7.95 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad

Altay Bayındır keeps Panathinaikos in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Squad

3 goals for Adriano Jagušić

The match ball belongs to Adriano Jagušić, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Market

Triantafyllos Tsapras puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Panathinaikos, and it is not being withdrawn.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Andrews Tetteh yet — 8.15

At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.15 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Facundo Pellistri in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Gustavo Fonte has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Panathinaikos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Panathinaikos and Levadiakos in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

In brief

596 Edition

The Panathinaikos Post

28 Dec 2037
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Santino Andino scores twice — 10.00

Two goals and a mark of 10.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Altay Bayındır keeps Panathinaikos in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Giorgos Katris

16 goals and a season average of 7.73 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Anass Zaroury yet — 8.09

At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.09 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Facundo Pellistri in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Panathinaikos get the job done against Asteras

A 5‑3 win over Asteras, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Squad

Oliver Sørensen falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

8 goals as Panathinaikos and Asteras go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Panathinaikos and Asteras, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

Player ratings

Giorgos Katris was on a different afternoon to everybody else

9.12. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

In brief

593 Edition

The Panathinaikos Post

7 Dec 2037
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Altay Bayındır

There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Facundo Pellistri yet — 9.36

At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.36 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Facundo Pellistri has been here 13 seasons

412 appearances across 13 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.

Squad

Santino Andino signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Santino Andino and Panathinaikos agree another 2 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Panathinaikos

Facundo Pellistri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Match

Whatever happens, Panathinaikos do not lose

7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Market

Ştefan Baiaram wants more than Panathinaikos are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Player ratings

One of those days for Adriano Jagušić

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.20, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Match

Facundo Pellistri sends Panathinaikos past OFI

It finished 2‑1, and it was Facundo Pellistri’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Panathinaikos.

In brief

592 Edition

The Panathinaikos Post

30 Nov 2037
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

A European night to remember for Panathinaikos

3‑3 against Portimonense, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.

Match

Panathinaikos tear PAOK apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against PAOK, and it could have been more.

Player ratings

Both of them Giorgos Katris's — 9.62

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.62, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Match

Panathinaikos make home a hard place to visit

15 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.

Squad

Giorgos Katris is carrying Panathinaikos

14 goals and a season average of 7.63. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Player ratings

Andrews Tetteh, 36, rolls back the years — 8.28

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.28 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Squad

Facundo Pellistri in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Panathinaikos training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adriano Jagušić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Panathinaikos and Portimonense in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

In brief

590 Edition

The Panathinaikos Post

16 Nov 2037
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

A brace, and Giorgos Katris takes the afternoon — 9.38

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Giorgos Katris provided it, and the 9.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Squad

Ryosuke Kojima keeps Panathinaikos in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Vicente Taborda yet — 8.66

At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.66 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Emre Bilgin says Panathinaikos went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Facundo Pellistri in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Giorgos Katris is carrying Panathinaikos

11 goals and a season average of 7.51. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Match

Nobody wants to play Panathinaikos right now

3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Match

Panathinaikos find a way past Atromitos

Atromitos made Panathinaikos work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

One of those days for António Gil

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.12, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

In brief

586 Edition

The Panathinaikos Post

19 Oct 2037
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

9 unbeaten for Panathinaikos

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Panathinaikos did not have in the autumn.

Squad

Tempers go at Panathinaikos

Facundo Pellistri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Adriano Jagušić falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Player ratings

Youssef Al Junaibi scored one and made one — 7.58

Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.58, and 2 involvements.

Match

Panathinaikos leaking at the back

5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.

Squad

No hiding place for Andrews Tetteh

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrews Tetteh, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

António Gil in the eights

A performance of 9.07 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Squad

When it matters, Facundo Pellistri plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Match

Panathinaikos share the spoils with Olympiacos

A 2‑2 draw with Olympiacos leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

In brief

582 Edition

The Panathinaikos Post

21 Sep 2037
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Anass Zaroury damages knee ligaments — 39 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 39 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Match

Panathinaikos do the business in Europe

2‑1. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Panathinaikos came through the finding-out well against Portimonense.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Ryan Metu

Successful dribbles: 35. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Both of them António Gil's — 9.10

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.10, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Andrej Ilić, 37, rolls back the years — 8.42

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.42 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Squad

Tempers go at Panathinaikos

Facundo Pellistri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Adriano Jagušić falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

Nobody wins at Panathinaikos

9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Match

Panathinaikos get the job done against Volos NPS

A 1‑0 win over Volos NPS, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

In brief

580 Edition

The Panathinaikos Post

7 Sep 2037
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Anass Zaroury

56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Panathinaikos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Facundo Pellistri stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Facundo Pellistri and Panathinaikos agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tempers go at Panathinaikos

Facundo Pellistri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Adriano Jagušić falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Player ratings

António Gil was on a different afternoon to everybody else

9.04. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

Match

António Gil answers OFI immediately

Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. António Gil had Panathinaikos level again within 3 minutes, and OFI never got to play with a lead at all.

Player ratings

The chances came and went for Andrews Tetteh

11 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.

Match

António Gil rescues a point for Panathinaikos

It needed António Gil to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against OFI, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

Market

The Adriano Jagušić question follows Panathinaikos around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Adriano Jagušić’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

552 Edition

The Panathinaikos Post

23 Feb 2037
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Panathinaikos are in among the leaders

Position 2 and 54 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Player ratings

Facundo Pellistri, 35, rolls back the years — 8.95

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.95 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Altay Bayındır

There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Squad

Santino Andino out for 29 days

The medical room confirms 29 days on the sidelines for Santino Andino, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Squad

Giorgos Katris is carrying Panathinaikos

15 goals and a season average of 7.54. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Squad

Tempers go at Panathinaikos

Facundo Pellistri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Match

Whatever happens, Panathinaikos do not lose

7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near António Gil

Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Boardroom

90% of the income goes out in wages at Panathinaikos

Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.

In brief

551 Edition

The Panathinaikos Post

16 Feb 2037
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Panathinaikos are shipping goals every week

Two or more conceded in each of the last 20 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.

Match

No mercy from Panathinaikos

Atromitos will want this one forgotten quickly: 7‑2, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Panathinaikos were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Squad

Ryosuke Kojima says Panathinaikos went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Adriano Jagušić is carrying Panathinaikos

15 goals and a season average of 7.82. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Squad

3 goals for António Gil

The match ball belongs to António Gil, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Player ratings

Andrews Tetteh scores twice — 8.14

Two goals and a mark of 8.14 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Altay Bayındır keeps Panathinaikos in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Player ratings

Facundo Pellistri, 35, rolls back the years — 8.96

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.96 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Market

Daniele Petrone has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Panathinaikos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

In brief

546 Edition

The Panathinaikos Post

12 Jan 2037
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Panathinaikos silence AEK

A derby is never about the football alone, but the football helped: 4‑3, and the away end emptied early. Bragging rights renewed for another season.

Match

No clean sheets in sight for Panathinaikos

15 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.

Match

Panathinaikos come from 2 down to beat AEK

At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Panathinaikos found something the first half had given no notice of, and AEK could not hold what they had.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Adriano Jagušić

12 goals and a season average of 7.70 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad

Altay Bayındır keeps Panathinaikos in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Market

Panathinaikos turn down Kifisia for Panagiotis Ioannidis

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

Emre Bilgin: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Panathinaikos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Facundo Pellistri in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Facundo Pellistri wins the derby

There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Panathinaikos support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.

In brief

539 Edition

The Panathinaikos Post

24 Nov 2036
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Panathinaikos tear Panetolikos apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 8‑2 against Panetolikos, and it could have been more.

Player ratings

Both of them Giorgos Katris's — 9.11

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.11, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Squad

A day Andrews Tetteh will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Andrews Tetteh yet — 9.29

At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.29 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Tempers go at Panathinaikos

Facundo Pellistri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Santino Andino falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

Panathinaikos leaking at the back

5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.

Player ratings

Adriano Jagušić was on a different afternoon to everybody else

9.97. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

Match

Andrews Tetteh among the goals in a wild afternoon

10 goals in one match, Andrews Tetteh on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Panathinaikos and Panetolikos.

In brief

536 Edition

The Panathinaikos Post

3 Nov 2036
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Solomon Bonnah breaks a bone — 20 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

Panathinaikos come from 3 down to beat Aris Thessaloniki

At 3 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Panathinaikos found something the first half had given no notice of, and Aris Thessaloniki could not hold what they had.

Squad

3 goals for Adriano Jagušić

The match ball belongs to Adriano Jagušić, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Match

Panathinaikos up to position 3

22 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Squad

12 seasons of Facundo Pellistri

379 appearances across 12 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Panathinaikos know what they have.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Anass Zaroury yet — 8.18

At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.18 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Facundo Pellistri in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panathinaikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Altay Bayındır raises the bar for Panathinaikos

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Panathinaikos heard it as anything else.

Match

Panathinaikos find a way past Aris Thessaloniki

Aris Thessaloniki made Panathinaikos work for it, but the scoreboard read 5‑4 at the end and the table does not ask how.

In brief