Garcia nets as AEK Athens hammers PAOK FC 4-0.
By Nigel Simon (T&T Guardian).
Soca Warriors international Levi Garcia scored for the second straight outing as AEK Athens kept up their bid for the Stoiximan Greece Super League title with a 4-0 hammering of PAOK FC in Round Six of their six-club Championship Round series at the OPAP Arena, Athens Greece, Wednesday.
The visitors got off to a bad start when Giannis Kargas was issued a straight red card via the VAR ruling in the tenth minute after which Steven Zuber netted in the 21st, and Harold Moukoudi three minutes later, both off of assists from Jens Jonsson for AEK to lead 2-0 at the half-time interval.
The 25-year-old Garcia then found the back of the next in the 77th minute with his 14th league goal of the campaign, and 18th overall for a 3-0 lead before Paolo Fernandes added a fourth item in the 86th to cap off a stellar display by the host to move to 75 points from 32 matches, level with Panathinaikos who blanked NFC Volos 2-0 ahead of their clash on Sunday while defending champions Olympiacos beaten by Aris 2-1 stayed third with 63 points followed by PAOK with 60, Aris with 47 and Volos FC with 40.
On Sunday, last Garcwhipped host and reigning Super League champions Olympiacos 3-1 in Round Five at the Stadio Georgios Karaiskák on Sunday.
The visitors silenced the home crowd in the seventh minute when Mijat Gacinovic netted the opener off an assist from Zuber and they held that lead until the half-time interval.
Nine minutes after the restart Cedric Bakambu drew Olympiacos level as they looked to mount a comeback in the hunt for the title.
However, eight minutes from full-time, Garcia played a one-two at the edge of the 18-yard box with Croatian Domagoj Vida, with the latter then being tripped up in the area by Moldovan Oleg Reabciuk, resulting in a penalty kick which was rifled home into the top right-hand corner of the net by Garcia to restore the lead at 2-1 before teammate Petros Mantalos added an insurance item in the first minute of time added-on.
The 25-year-old Garcia and his AEK Athens teammates are already through to the Greece Novibet Cup final against PAOK on May 23.
This after AEK Athens beat Olympiacos 4-2 on aggregate in their home-and-away semifinal, losing their second-leg semifinal 1-2 away after winning the first-leg 3-0 with Garcia scoring a double.
The T&T 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, due to an injury he sustained on February 25 which kept him out of action for 35 days.
During his time out injured, 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.
