Europa League

Dream goal is not enough: Sturm lose in Athens

Sturm Graz lose again in the Europa League.(Bild: Sepp Pail)

Sturm Graz have suffered another setback. The soccer champions, who have been winless in the Bundesliga for a month, lost 2-1 (1-1) at Panathinaikos in Athens in the Europa League on Thursday. Karol Swiderski gave the Greek sixth-placed team the lead (18th), which Otar Kiteishvili equalized with a dream goal (34th). However, Panathinaikos, who were by no means overpowering, had the last word in the person of Davide Calabria (74').

With four points from five games, Sturm are two points off the top 24 promotion places with three rounds still to play in the league phase. The team from Graz will face Red Star Belgrade (h), Feyenoord Rotterdam (a) and Brann Bergen (h). First, however, they must reverse the trend at national level. Sturm have won just one of their last eight competitive matches - in the Cup against second-division side Admira on penalties.

Coordination problems in Graz
Coach Jürgen Säumel made extensive changes to his out-of-form team following the 3-1 defeat against LASK. Niklas Geyrhofer and Emanuel Aiwu came in as two fresh central defenders. Jeyland Mitchell once again started at right-back with a lack of success and was replaced by Arjan Malic at half-time with a yellow card. The lively Filip Rozga was allowed to start in place of Tomi Horvat, with Seedy Jatta up front alongside Maurice Malone.

(Bild: Sepp Pail)

Sturm survived an initial, brief period of pressure from Panathinaikos, who coach Rafael Benitez perhaps surprisingly started with a three-man defense. The visitors needed a period of orientation before their first good attacking moments, before things went far too easily in the 18th minute. A cross from the left flew too wide and Davide Calabria was able to cross unchallenged on the exposed right-hand side of the defense. Nobody in the center felt responsible for Swiderski, who headed in his fourth Europa League goal of the season.

Kiteishvili's fine foot
It was an effective goal for the visitors, who struggled to maintain their compactness due to coordination problems and lost the ball far too early. Once again, however, it was Kiteishvili who got his team back into the game with a dream goal. The Georgian's shot from over 25 meters hit the corner of the net. In his usual manner, Kiteishvili cheered with a froth, even the obligatory smile did not escape the captain, who had recently left the pitch completely frustrated.

Here is a video of the dream goal scored by Sturm's Kiteishvili:

In front of 1,200 Sturm fans in the half-empty Olympiastadion, the Austrian champions were able to quarrel with the referee afterwards. Swiderski inflicted a laceration on Aiwu's head with a rash tackle. And although the goalscorer was well-served with a yellow card, shortly afterwards he went in with an open sole against Jatta. Italian referee Simone Sozza did not show the yellow card.

Swiderski then forced Oliver Christensen to make his first save of the second period (49'). Sturm were now much better in the duels. A deflected Jatta shot did not miss much, after which the game flattened out. Neither team came up with too much, but seconds after Graz's lone entertainer Kiteishvili was substituted, the ball hit the back of the net again. Calabria let Emir Karic run into space with a lob and finished with the outside of his foot. The harmless Säumel team were unable to mount a real final offensive.

Panathinaikos Athens - Sturm Graz 2:1 (1:1)
Athens, Spyros Louis, SR Sozza (ITA)

Goals: 1:0 (18.) Swiderski, 1:1 (34.) Kiteishvili, 2:1 (74.) Calabria

Panathinaikos: Dragowski - Ingason, Palmer-Brown, Touba - Calabria (80. Kotsiras), Bakasetas (85. Mladenovic), Djuricic, Cerin, Zaroury - Swiderski (66. Pantovic), Tete (65. Chirivella)

Storm: Christensen - Mitchell (46. Malic), Aiwu, Geyrhofer, Karic - Gorenc Stankovic, Chukwuani - Rozga (61. Horvat), Kiteishvili (74. Hödl) - Jatta (78. Grgic), Malone (61. Kayombo)

Yellow cards: Ingason, Swiderski, Bakasetas and Stankovic, Mitchell, Chukwuani respectively.