A Week Ago PAOK Won 3-1. Sunday Was Different.
Seven days earlier PAOK went to Piraeus and won 3-1. Olympiacos were battered. Two defeats in three playoff games. The title defence in serious trouble.
Sunday they hosted PAOK again. Karaiskakis. Home crowd. Mendilibar demanding a response.
They got one. 1-0. The rivalry stays fierce. The playoff race stays alive.
Olympiacos Dominated the First Half
Sixty-four percent of the ball. Seven shots. Three on target. PAOK managed one shot and zero corners across the entire first 45 minutes.
That is not a competitive first half. That is one team pressing hard and another sitting so deep they could barely get out of their own half.
El Kaabi had two of those efforts on goal. One parried away, one just wide. The first came after a slick combination with Chiquinho down the right. Sharp movement, right contact, decent save from Kousas. The second was agonisingly close — El Kaabi turned onto his left foot and curled it inches past the far post.
0-0 at half-time. Olympiacos doing everything except scoring.
The Second Half Delivered
PAOK came out with more purpose. Živković drove at the backline in the 50th minute and forced a foul. Free kick. Nothing came of it. But the visitors started competing more.
Olympiacos responded by pressing higher and faster. The Karaiskakis crowd pushed them. The goal came.
Rodinei burst down the right and whipped a cross into the box. It found Martins on the back foot but he controlled it and poked it low past Kousas. The goalkeeper got a hand to it. Not enough. Net. Karaiskakis Stadium up.
1-0. The lead they had been building toward since the first minute.
PAOK pushed late. Baba got forward from left back on 75 minutes and his cross found Boudaoui arriving at pace. Shot straight at Tzolakis who held it well. The only real threat from Thessaloniki all night.
What the Rivalry Looks Like Right Now
PAOK are unbeaten in their last four meetings against Olympiacos coming into Sunday. Three wins and a draw. The 3-1 last week. The 0-0 at Toumba in March. A 2-0 win at Karaiskakis in January.
Sunday broke that run. Olympiacos finally found a way through at home against their fiercest rivals after failing to score in the previous two meetings here.
Yazici and Bakoulas were both missing through injury for Olympiacos. They played without two key attackers and still found the goal. Mendilibar will note that.
The Title Picture
Both clubs were level on points going into Sunday. Both sitting on 58 points in the playoff standings after PAOK’s 3-1 win in Round 3.
This win puts Olympiacos back above their rivals on points. AEK Athens are still the team to catch at the top. The holders need to win their remaining games and hope AEK slip. It is difficult. It is not impossible.
PAOK came to Piraeus three times this season. They won the first two. Lost the third. For a side that had been so dominant in this fixture recently, Sunday was a reminder that Karaiskakis on its best days is very hard for anyone to come and win at.
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Olympiacos 1-0 PAOK Super League Championship Group Round 4 | Sunday, 10 May 2026 | Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, Piraeus
Goal: Gelson Martins (2nd half, assisted by Rodinei) Absences: Yazici, Bakoulas (Olympiacos, injury)
Olympiacos XI: Tzolakis | Costinha, Retsos, Pirola, Rodinei | Hézze, García | Chiquinho, Martins, Ortega | El Kaabi PAOK XI: Kousas | Lyratzis, Ingason, Crespo, Baba | Živković, Kurtic | Ozdoyev, Boudaoui, El Kaddouri | Swiderski
1st half stats: Possession OLY 64% PAOK 36% | Shots OLY 7 (3 on target) PAOK 1 (0 on target) | Corners OLY 3 PAOK 0 HT: 0-0 | FT: 1-0
Playoff Table: AEK 1st | Olympiacos 2nd | PAOK 3rd
