Intro:

Xanthi beat Panathinaikos 4-2 in the Superleague Greece on Thursday to move up into fifth place in the standings.

Script:

Panathinaikos had a chance to close to the gap on the Superleague Greece leaders to just 2 points when they visited Xanthi on Thursday night.

But the visitors made a terrible start, falling behind in only the third minute as Dimitrios Goutas headed in from Adrian Lucero's corner .

Mid-table Xanthi doubled their lead 13 minutes later as Panathinaikos were undone by concerted pressure from the home side. And a sublime finish from Vasilakakis.

Panathinaikos' response to falling 2-0 down came almost immediately, with Nikos Karelis skilfully taking control of a well timed pass before calmly finishing from close range.

However, Xanthi restored their two-goal advantage seven minutes into the second half with a stunning finish - Karim Soltani turning in Cleyton's corner kick with a deft back heel.

A lackluster defensive performance from Panathinaikos was punished again in the 63rd minute when Pantelis Kapetanos also found the back of the net.

Panathinaikos pulled a goal back two minutes later through Karelis, but they failed to further reduce the deficit in the remaining 30 minutes and Xanthi clinched an impressive 4-2 win to move up into fifth place in the standings.