Naive Panathinaikos suffered a humiliating 1-4 defeat at the hands of an in-form Chelsea. The blushing Panathinaikos endured this thorough beating at their home ground, Athens Olympic Stadium, in front of their anxious fans. In this maiden encounter between the two teams, ‘The Blues’ were unfazed by the reception, decisively thrashing the home team.
Enzo Maresca’s boys needed only 23 minutes to open the scoring, thanks to Portuguese international João Félix, who struck home Mykhaylo Mudryk’s well-placed pass. The Ukrainian star added a second goal in the 49th minute with an assist from Pedro Neto. Things got worse for Panathinaikos as João Félix delivered a finesse shot past the confused Bartłomiej Drągowski in the 55th minute.
The shaky Panathinaikos defense buckled under ‘The Blues’ relentless press. Filip Mladenović mishandled the ball and was booked, leading referee António Nobre to award Chelsea a penalty. Christopher Nkunku converted it seamlessly, celebrating with his signature balloon gesture in the 59th minute.
‘The Shamrock’ showed signs of life with a clinical header by Facundo Pellistri from George Vagiannidis, making it 1-4. Despite a tireless fight, Panathinaikos couldn’t turn things around, and the match ended 1-4. Chelsea walked away with 3 points and now sit at the top of the UEFA Conference League table with 6 points from 2 matches.
