T&T striker Levi Garcia made his first start since his return from injury and set up AEK Athens' 1-0 win over Volos in the third round of the Stoiximan Greece Super League six-club Championship Round at Panthessaliko, Volos, Greece on Wednesday.
The 25-year-old who made his return from a 35-day injury layoff in AEK Athen’s 1-0 win over PAOK in the second round on Saturday set up the winner for teammate Orbelin Pineda as early as the ninth minute before he was substituted in the 75th by Steven Zuber.
The win kept AEK Athens level with Panathinaikos at the top of the standings with 66 points each from 29 matches, three ahead of defending champions Olympiacos while PAOK is next with 57 followed by Aris with 41, and Volos with 40.
Garcia and AEK will be back in action against Aris on April 9, followed by their second leg Novibet Greek Cup semifinal against Olympiacos on March 12, leading 3-0 from the first leg on February 9 with Garcia scoring a double back then.
The T&Ti international was forced to miss T&T’s recent final two CONCACAF Nations League B Group C fixtures, a 3-0 away win against Bahamas on March 24, and three days later a 1-1 draw at home to Nicaragua at the Dwight Yorke Stadium, Bacolet, which saw the Soca Warriors finish second in their four-team pool and missing out on automatic qualification for the Concacaf Gold Cup.
Back on February 25, Garcia was locked in a three-way battle with Democratic Republic of Congo’s’ Cedric Bakambu of Olympiacos, and Panetolikos’ Nikolaos Karelis all on 11 goals at the top of the scorers’ charts when he made his 100th appearance during a 2-0 victory against Asteras Tripolis FC.
However, Garcia’s had a bitter-sweet day as he was forced off at the half-time interval with the injury and following scans it was revealed via an MRI scan that he will be sidelined for 2-3 weeks which eventually rose to 35 days.
During his team out he also missed his club’s two remaining regular season matches, a 3-0 win over OFI Crete on March 5, a 1-0 over Atromitos Athens on March 8, and a 1-3 loss to Olympiacos on March 12, as well as the first round of the Championship Round, a 0-0 draw with Panathinaikos on March 19.
