Official Cup

KLEANTHIS VIKELIDIS
Spectators: 184 (Terracing: 139, Seating: 42, VIP seats: 3) Dark clouds were building up when the players entered the field. None of the them looked very eager to play. Panos Diamantidis started the match with the kick off. In the 3rd match minute, AC Milan was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Alekos Volakis to maneuver through the defense. In the 4th match minute, ARIS THESSALONIKI F.C. was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Vaggelis Kourmouzis to maneuver through the defense. Kostas Ntounias kicked well hit freekick during the 8th minute of the match. Fotis Tatsis was a little too slow when Panos Diamantidis got a fine hit on the ball which went right into the goal in the 13th minute. The score was now 1-0. Fotis Tatsis made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Kostas Ntounias in the 16th minute of play. Alekos Volakis's late challenge caught a ARIS THESSALONIKI F.C.'s player on the shin and left him crawling around in pain. The referee blew his whistle and produced the yellow card. Alekos Volakis helped the player get up and apologised. A collision led to AC Milan getting a freekick after 18 minutes play. Alekos Volakis hit a great ball. AC Milan's Fotis Tatsis played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Giannis Merganiotis in the 24th minute of play. In the 26th minute Nikos Kosmidis shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Grigoris Smernos saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. After 26 minutes, Anastasios Karagiozis mouthed his way into the referee's book. The tension between the ARIS THESSALONIKI F.C. and the AC Milan players grew even worse after the yellow card. Fotis Tatsis showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Panos Diamantidis in the 29th minute of the match. With an all-out effort, ARIS THESSALONIKI F.C.'s Fotis Tatsis threw himself towards the right post 36 minutes into the match and grabbed hold of the ball from Giannis Merganiotis, which otherwise would have been placed in the net. After a rather tough play, AC Milan's Alekos Volakis got a free kick in the 36th minute. In the 38th minute, Panos Diamantidis ran past the defenders and hit a shot which went straight ahead into goal. Fotis Tatsis was frozen by the shot and now it was 2-0. Stamatis Kouromichelakis hit a great freekick 41 minutes into the match. AC Milan's Nikos Kosmidis got a good chance for a goal in the 42nd minute, but he totally mistimed the shot and it went over the crossbar. Grigoris Smernos showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Aris Kortzidis, who was totally free with the ball in the 47th minute. When the referee blew for the end of the half the home team players were clearly happier, as they went in to the break leading 2-0.

The players of the home team were most fresh-looking when they entered the field to play the second half. Nikos Kosmidis was the one to do the kick off. 53 minutes had been played when some careless play by ARIS THESSALONIKI F.C.'s defense caused the ball to cross the line for a corner. Pavlos Papazacharias was slow to take the kick. During this time AC Milan's players had a chance to rest. Pavlos Papazacharias made a great header on AC Milan's corner, it was just that ARIS THESSALONIKI F.C.'s Grigoris Smernos managed to reach the ball for a save. The audience was convinced that Aris Kortzidis's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Grigoris Smernos was relentless in the 54th minute of the game. In the 58th minute of the match, Aris Kortzidis got a very nice opportunity to score, but Grigoris Smernos was well-placed and pushed the ball away from the goal at the left post. ARIS THESSALONIKI F.C.'s defense didn't have a chance, in the 60th minute, when Aris Kortzidis scored to the left of an out of position Grigoris Smernos, making the score, 2-1. Fotis Tatsis made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Giannis Merganiotis in the 62nd minute of play. Fotis Tatsis showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Panos Diamantidis in the 64th minute of the match. Thanks to some nice moves Nikos Kosmidis could shoot a difficult shot in the 69th minute, which Grigoris Smernos however easily saved by the left post. Grigoris Smernos took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Aris Kortzidis, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. Grigoris Smernos made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Timos Vlontakis in the 75th minute of play. 76 minutes into the game, Panos Diamantidis was given a yellow card after he appeared to trip an opposing player. ARIS THESSALONIKI F.C.'s manager was livid on the sidelines, but the referee was unmoved and gave AC Milan the free kick. In the 77th minute, Panos Diamantidis hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. Grigoris Smernos didn't have a chance when a screaming shot from Nikos Kosmidis went, in the 83rd minute, to the upper right corner, 2-2 was the resulting score. Grigoris Smernos was a little too slow when Timos Vlontakis got a fine hit on the ball which went right into the goal in the 91st minute. The score was now 2-3. The ARIS THESSALONIKI F.C. fans had already started to leave before the final whistle blew. AC Milan were clearly better and deserved to take the win.