August 30, 2023
These diaries covered the first leg meeting last week between these two sides, and with Antwerp taking a slender 1-0 lead into the return, it was all to play for.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2023/08/royal-antwerp-1-0-aek-athens-att-13376.html
The match was being played at AEK’s Agia Sophia Stadium and the bookies made AEK favourites to overturn the deficit in front of their own supporters. Bet365 offered AEK at 13/20, Antwerp were 17/4 outsiders, and the draw was 11/4.
AEK made three changes from their starting line-up last week. Austrian keeper Cican Stankovic ( 4 caps ) replaced Athanasiadis, Rota swapped with Sidibe, and Ponce started in place of the injured Garcia after replacing him in the first half in Antwerp.
Antwerp made two changes from the first leg. With Bataille suspended after his red card, USA left-back Sam Vines took his place and Kosovan Arbnor Muja replaced Ondrejka upfront
Spanish referee Jesus Gil Manzano was in charge of the match.
The game started in a lively fashion and with just over a minute played Antwerp keeper Butez was sent crashing to the floor by Ponce as he attempted to clear the ball downfield. The referee took no sanction against the AEK forward apart from awarding the free-kick.
Amrabat, the standout player for AEK in the first tie, carelessly gave the ball away in his own half enabling Muja to dribble into the AEK penalty area, but Moukoudi made a tremendous tackle and came away with possession.
In the third minute, Muja set off on another run down the left after receiving a pass from Janssen and this time his shot needed to pushed away by the diving AEK keeper.
Both sides were playing at pace and the next promising move occurred in the 14th minute, but Amrabat’s teasing cross was matched by a great defensive header from Alderweireld. AEK continued to probe and two minutes later Haj Safi’s cross from the left was headed just wide by Ponce from close to the penalty spot. The Argentinian ought to have at least hit the target.
Balikwisha was looking dangerous for Antwerp, first sending a low cross from the left across the face of the goal and wide, and then playing in Janssen down the left wing, and with the cross into the middle being poorly punched away by keeper Stankovic no Antwerp player could take advantage.
The poor goal-keeping continued at the other end as a Pineda’s shot was blocked, took two deflections and flew high in the air. Butez made a very odd looking punch rather than palming the ball off for corner, and again the ball went high into the air, for Ponce to again head wide from a good position.
Janssen was the meat in a sandwich as Szymanski and Moukoudi both fouled the Antwerp striker but again the referee’s cards stayed in his pocket.
With 24 minutes played, Butez then made another error as his attempted pass out from the back went straight to Zuber who passed first time to Ponce on the edge of the area, but Butez redeemed himself with a fine save to push a piledriver over the bar.
After an AEK corner was cleared in the 35th minute, the ball reached Gacinovic 25 yards out but his left-footed effort went over the bar without troubling the keeper. A minute later, Amrabat, who had been disappointingly anonymous to date for AEK, made a promising run from out on the right into the Antwerp area but his left-footed shot was poor and went several feet wide.
The first half ended with the score 0-0, in which both sides had shown good quality with the ball, but the score was a fair reflection of the even nature of the play. It was still all to play for in the second half.
The early phases of the second half were cagey, with not a lot happening apart from Pineda’s low cross being well defended by Alderweireld at the expense of a corner.
However, Antwerp should have taken the lead on the night in the 60th minute. A flowing move featuring a dozen or more first time passes and great movement off the ball saw Balikwisha get to the by-line and his low cross found Muja 3 yards out. With an empty net in front of him, the Kosovan somehow put the ball wide of the far post. An incredible miss !
A lengthy injury delay soon followed and Alderweireld was unable to continue with what looked like a bad arm injury and he had to be replaced.
AEK left-back Haj Safi made a promising run from close to the half-way line but badly sliced his shot from distance but appealed for corner, probably hoping the referee would think the shot couldn’t have been that bad and so must have been deflected. The referee wasn’t fooled though.
There didn’t appear to be an danger as Antwerp prepared to take a throw-in just inside the AEK half, but Vines sent his throw long down the touch-line and Balikwisha raced onto it with most of the AEK defence standing and watching. A brilliant pass just before the ball went out of play gave substitute Kerk, who had been on the pitch for barely a minute, had an easy finish inside the 6 yard box to make it 2-0 on aggregate to the Great Old with 18 minutes left to play.
AEK responded by making a triple substitution but it was Antwerp who nearly scored the next goal as Janssen and Kerk combined, but Balikwisha couldn’t control the final pass when otherwise he would been one on one with the keeper.
AEK were looking short of ideas, with the biggest danger coming when Yusef’s attempted clearance was sliced over his own bar. AEK’s night seemed to be summed up with Pineda spooned high over the bar from the edge of the area with 2 minutes left on the clock and they seemed to be lamely exiting the competition.
As the game entered the last minute of normal time, Eliasson crossed from the right wing. The ball reached Araujo at the back post who was able to chest control and managed to shoot from 8 yards. The ball went past De Laet’s attempt to block and snuck just inside the post. 1-1 on the night, and with 8 minutes of added time to be played, AEK still had time to force extra-time. Against Dinamo Zagreb in the previous round they had come back to score two goals in added on time to progress. Could they do it again to force extra-time ?
Roared on by their passionate fans, the Greek side surged forward but they left gaps at the back, and in the 5th minute of added time, a first time pass out of defence from Vermeeren found Balikwisha all alone, and he advanced to steer a confident shot past Stankovic and send Antwerp into the draw for the CL group stages for the first team ever.
There was still time for Eliasson to miss badly with a header, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nwtU0uzbKM
AEK Athens : Stankovic – Rota ( Jonsson ), Vida, Moukoudi, Haj Safi – Amrabat ( Eliasson ), Pineda, Szymanski ( Pizarro ), Gacinovic ( Manatolos ) – Ponce, Zuber ( Araujo )
Royal Antwerp : Butez – De Laet, Alderweireld ( Van Den Bosch ), Coulibaly, Vines – Keita, Ekkelenkamp ( Kerk ), Vermeeren – Muja, Janssen ( Yusef ), Balikwisha ( Ondrejka )
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