The 1988 Greek Cup final was the 44th final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 8 May 1988 at the Olympic Stadium. The contesting teams were Olympiacos and Panathinaikos. It was Olympiacos' twenty-fourth Greek Cup final in their 63 years of existence and Panathinaikos' seventeenth Greek Cup final in their 80-year history. Both clubs were extra motivated for the title since were out of the championship race and were looking for a ticket to the UEFA competition. The match went into penalty shoot-out where the goalkeeper of Panathinaikos, Nikos Sarganis emerged as the hero for his team, saving two penalties and scoring one. In a future interview, the Greek goalkeeper revealed that the owner of Olympiacos, George Koskotas attempted to bribe him for reduced performance in the final. That would be the second time Koskotas was accused for attempted bribery, as he did the same as well on Theologis Papadopoulos and Vasilios Vasilakos of AEK Athens at the round of 16.
Venue
This was the sixth Greek Cup final held at the Athens Olympic Stadium, after the 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1987 finals.
The Athens Olympic Stadium was built in 1982. The stadium is used as a venue for Panathinaikos, Olympiacos and Greece and was used for AEK Athens on various occasions. Its current capacity is 80,000 and hosted a European Cup final in 1983 and a European Cup Winners' Cup final in 1987.
Background Olympiacos had reached the Greek Cup final twenty-three times, winning seventeen of them. The last time that they won the Cup was in 1981 (3–1 against PAOK). The last time that they played in a final was in 1986, where they had lost to Panathinaikos by 4–0.
Panathinaikos had reached the Greek Cup final sixteen times, winning nine of them. The last time that they played in a final was in 1986, where they had won against Olympiacos by 4–0.
The two teams had met each other in a Cup final seven times in the 1960, 1962, 1965, 1968, 1969, 1975 and 1986 finals.
Route to the final
OlympiacosRoundPanathinaikosOpponentAgg.1st leg2nd legOpponentAgg.1st leg2nd legAgrotikos Asteras4–0 (H)First roundChalkida2–0 (H)ByeAdditional roundKavala7–2 (H)Olympiacos Volos6–01–0 (A)5–0 (H)Round of 32Panserraikos2–00–0 (A)2–0 (H)AEK Athens4–11–1 (H)3–1 (A)Round of 16PAS Giannina10–32–1 (A)8–2 (H)Apollon Kalamarias2–10–0 (A)2–1 (H)Quarter-finalsIrodotos6–04–0 (A)2–0 (H)OFI3–13–0 (H)0–1 (A)Semi-finalsAEL4–11–0 (H)3–1 (A)
Match Details
GK Ilias TalikriadisDF Stratos ApostolakisDF Alexandros AlexiouDF Charis BaniotisDF Petros Xanthopoulos (c)MF Minas HantzidisMF Panagiotis TsalouchidisMF Andreas Bonovas MF Tasos MitropoulosFW Juan Gilberto FunesFW Nikos TsiantakisSubstitutes:GK Georgios PlitsisDF Theodoros PachatouridisMF Giorgos KapouranisFW Panagiotis SofianopoulosFW Sakis Moustakidis Manager: Pavlos Grigoriadis, Giannis Gounaris GK Nikos SarganisDF Iakovos ChatziathanasiouDF Kostas MavridisDF Giannis KalitzakisDF Nikos VamvakoulasMF Velimir Zajec (c) MF Louis Christodoulou MF Christos DimopoulosMF Juan Ramón RochaFW Dimitris SaravakosFW Lysandros GeorgamlisSubstitutes:GK Antonis MinouDF Nikos PatsiavourasMF Vangelis Vlachos MF Chris KalantzisFW Kostas Batsinilas Manager: Gunder Bengtsson Assistant referees: Vassilios Nikakis (Aetoloacarnania) Kostas Dimitriadis (Piraeus)Match rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra time if necessary Penalty shootout if scores still level Five named substitutes Maximum of two substitutions
See also 1987–88 Greek Football Cup
References