AEK Athens swept aside Aris Thessaloniki 5-0 in the third round of the Greek Super League at the OPAP Arena on Saturday evening. The result leaves the hosts second with seven points from three games, while Aris drop to seventh with six.
Early strike set the tone
Barnabás Varga opened the scoring in the eleventh minute, a moment that shifted the balance before Aris could settle. By then, the visitors were already playing catch-up, and the space behind them grew wider with every attack. The goal came from sustained pressure — AEK had won the aerial duel earlier and immediately looked to exploit the confusion.
Two yellow cards followed before the break, Lovro Majer in the twenty-seventh minute and Llazaros Rota in the fortieth. To be fair, both were late challenges in midfield, but the timing only deepened Aris's discomfort. The second half began with two substitutions for the visitors, Giannis Gianniotas and Manu García, attempts to change the rhythm.
Varga struck again in the sixty-second minute, extending AEK's lead and confirming their dominance. Răzvan Marin added a third in the sixty-sixth, and the match was effectively over. A VAR-checked goal for Varga in the seventy-second minute was cancelled, but the scoreline told the real story.
Aboubakary Koita made it four in the seventy-fifth minute, and Ambrósini António Cabaça Salvador completed the tally on ninety. Two penalty appeals for AEK fell away — one at seventy-two minutes for Varga, another at eighty-two for Petros Mantalos — but the hosts had already done enough.
The statistics bear this out. AEK held 60% possession, created five big chances to Aris's one, and registered ten shots on target compared with two. They won 18 of 27 aerial duels and completed 473 passes against 286. Many shots with one goal means chances went begging — and here's the thing, Aris did not get many.
Our forecast called for a home win at 46% confidence. It came through, and not by accident. AEK have now won two and drawn one, while Aris have suffered their first defeat. The gap at the top remains narrow, but on this showing, the hosts fancy their chances of holding on.
