Panathinaikos 1 : 2 Dinamo Moscow - Fine away win for Dinamo

Posted Friday, September 19, 2014 by PA

Two goals in 10 minutes either side of half-time earned Dinamo Moscow a 2-1 victory over Panathinaikos in their Europa League Group E opener in Athens.

Pana failed to make the most of their early dominance as they were hit by well-worked goals from two of Russia's World Cup squad this summer, Aleksandr Kokorin (40) and Aleksei Ionov (50), at the Apostolos Nikolaidis stadium.

The hosts quickly pulled a goal back through Athanasios Dinas to make things interesting, but the Russian visitors held on to take the points.

Pana made most of the early running, with Zeca, David Mendes Da Silva and Danijel Pranjic all trying their luck without success before Nikolaos Karelis brought about the first save of the match with an effort that Dinamo keeper Vladimir Gabulov kept out with his feet.

Dinamo, who saw their four-match Premier League winning streak ended by Zenit St Petersburg on Saturday, had barely featured as an attacking threat during that period but, against the run of play, they came within inches of taking the lead in the 28th minute when Balazs Dzsudzsak's 25-yard drive crashed against the crossbar.

Pana did not heed the warning, though, as 12 minutes later the visitors were ahead when Kokorin raced on to Kevin Kuranyi's fine lofted through-ball and took a touch before coolly slotting past Stefanos Kotsolis with the outside of his foot.

That was a huge blow for the hosts just before the break, but it could have been worse at the interval as Dinamo almost snatched an immediate second, Kuranyi bringing a parry out of Kotsolis with a header.

Unfortunately for Pana, the half-time break did not check Dinamo's momentum and they added a second just three minutes after the restart when Ionov took down Dzsudzsak's deep right-wing cross, neatly stepped inside Kotsolis before lashing home left footed .

Those two goals looked to have sunk Pana, but the 20-time Greek champions gave themselves a lifeline in the 64th minute when Dinas halved the deficit with a header.

Pana pushed forward in search of the equaliser and Dinas almost levelled six minutes later only for Gabulov to produce another save with his feet.

Dinamo responded with a Kokorin effort that cleared the crossbar before Pana saw their final opportunity to snatch a point spurned by Mladen Petric three minutes from time.