NIGEL SIMON
nigel.simon@guardian.co.tt
T&T winger Levi Garcia opened his account for 2022 when he netted the opening goal for AEK Athens in a 2-0 win over host PAS Lamia 1964 in the Greece Super League at the Dimotiko Athlitiko Kentro Lamias, Lamia on Wednesday.
Garcia, 24, playing on the left side of a three-man attacking midfield got the opening goal in the 29th minute when he reacted first to a loose ball in the 18-yard box off a corner to hammer home a left-footed shot into the bottom right-hand corner of the goal, his third league goal of the season in 14 outings, which his team took into the half-time interval before Nordin Amrabat made certain of victory seven minutes from full-time.
With the win, Garcia and AEK Athens improved to 33 points from 16 matches in second spot, nine behind leaders Olympiacos who were held to a shock goalless draw away to last-placed Apollon Smyrnis.
PAOK FC is third with 28 from 15 matches, followed by PAS Giannina with 25 from 16 matches, and Panathinaikos with 23 from 14 in the fifth spot while Lamia stayed 12th on 14-club table 11 points from 16 matches, two ahead of Atromitos who have played 15 matches while Apollon Smyrnis sits in the cellar-spot with eight points from 13 matches.
The goal for Garcia was his second in as many matches after he also got his team’s lone item in their second-leg 1-1 draw with
Kifissia AE in their Greece Cup second-leg round-of-16 match at the Municipal Kifisia Stadium Zirineio, Kifisia on Thursday, December 23.
Winners of the first-leg back on December 1, by a comfortable 4-0 margin to virtually seal the tie, Athens had to wait until Garcia’s 55th-minute item to open the scoring in the second-leg before Andrews Tetteh drew the host level in the 73rd minute which proved to be the final goal in the contest.
With the draw, AEK Athens won the home-and-away series 5-1 to book their place in the quarterfinals alongside Anagennisi Karditsas, Panetolikos, PAOK, Olympiacos, Aris Thessaloniki, PAS Lamia 1964, and Panathinaikos.
Garcia and his teammates will be back in action this weekend (January 9) when they host PAOK in Round 17 before facing the same club four days later (January 13) in the Greece Super League.
They will then come up against Panetolikos on January 16 ahead of their Greece Cup quarterfinal first-leg clash with PAOK on January 19 with the second-leg set for January 25.