So, a nice, relatively comfortable win on Monday brought us up from ninth to joint fifth.

We got the three points we so desperately needed, as well as a little bit of reassurance for the players and fans. Beating a team like Larissa with a score of 3-1 is always a nice thing. Sure, Larissa might not be at their best, but they are rarely an easy team to win against (I feel like I've said that many times already this season).

Ok, to be honest, I was expecting a loss for AEK here. Aris were considered favorites for this game and I think that's somewhat justified. Bearing that in mind, I'll take a draw here. Its never easy to win away against Aris, even on a good day.

I wasn't able to watch the match since it was satellite.

As Greeksoccer reports, Robert Kozonis, a wealthy bussiness man from Chicago is interested in becoming the main owner of AEK. This could be great for the club. He apparently has the necessary funds, and is not worried by the debt. The link discusses more details.

This is the kind of guy that can make the difference with AEK.

Kanellopoulos has given his 13.5 % of shares to the amateur club so that they now have a 23.5 % share of the club. A pretty big share of the club indeed. Dimitris Hatzichristos as many of you will know is the head of the amateurs and Original21.

What will happen from this move nobody can say yet.

First off, the highlights:

AEKMAN74 posted a review earlier on this match which covered most of the main points so be sure to check that out as well. I'd just like to add a few things.

We lined up with Saja as keeper, Araujo, Arce, Majstorovic, and Georgeas (who played left back) playing defence, Hersi, Geurreiro, Jahic, and Manduca playing Midfield, with Scocco and Blanco playing attack.

ESPN reviewed our win over Benfica in the Europa League here.

UEFA published not one, but two seperate articles on the match. You can read them here and here.

PortuGOAL's coverage here.

Sky Sports covered the game as well; article posted here.

Article on the entire Group I by Extra Footie here.

A resurgent AEK overcame a depressing 4-0 thrashing to Everton two weeks ago to grind out a surprising but deserved 1-0 victory over Portugeuese powerhouse club Benfica FC.

The night started dismally for AEK. Playing what I believe was a 4-2-3-1 with Saja in goal and Juanfran, Arce, Marjstorovic, and Gorgeas in the back, Kafes and Jahic in defensive midfield roles, Manduca, Scocco and Hersi forming a three-man attacking line and Blanco playing lone goal-poacher up top, AEK struggled for possession early on.

A huge win for us, absolutely incredible! So many good things to say, its going to take a while. I believe AEKBaltimore recorded the game since it was on in the US as well, so hopefully he will have some more comments as well.

First off, let me just repeat that once more. AEK 1-0 Benfica.

Finally, the victory we've been waiting for. The victory we needed. Our team, loaded with a hastily-assembled talent and led by an excellent coach, just needed a little but of confidence to gel and see us through, and we got it tonight with a decisive Europe League win over Portuguese powerhouse Benfica.

So, another derby lost. That makes it the first time we've lost two derbies in a row in about ten years. Not a good sign.

Not many positives to take from this game, both sides played some pretty poor football. I'm not going to bother writing much as there is little to say. Firstly, our forwards still can't score.

Well, there has been quite a bit of discussion in the post AEKBaltimore put up. Since the match alot has happened, most regarding the horrendous officiating at the match. But first, a review.

For everyone who has been following AEK you know how incredibly unlucky we tend to be, especially when it matters most.

Obviously not the result we were hoping for. The lads did indeed show up to play tonight but the final touch wasn't there. Creating and finishing chances is a huge part of football though, so we've only ourselves to blame (well, maybe the refs can share the blame!). I was stuck in the office for this match, but I was able to watch a low-quality stream for about twenty minutes in the second half.

Decent match preview here. We've had a bit of a bad run lately, so it's hard not to be nervous. But if our lads show up to play, there is no question we are the better team.

The FIFA Under-20 World Cup starts tomorrow (Thursday) in Egypt, and ESPN has identified eleven players it believes will stand-out in the tournament. Among them is our own Krisztian Nemeth:

Krisztian Nemeth (Hungary & Liverpool)
Krisztian Nemeth joins Liverpool team-mates Andras Simon and keeper Peter Gulacsi in the Hungary squad, although he is currently on loan to Greek side AEK Athens.

An extremely disappointing result today for AEK in Giannena.

Our starting lineup consisted of Saja, Araujo, Majstorovic, Arce, Juanfran, Hersi, Guerreiro, Jahic, Manduca, Nemeth, Pavlis.

I can't comment much on the first half since I could only watch the second half, but from what I heard we saw some decent passing from the team.

Well, our match in Giannena starts in a little under an hour. Our most likely starting lineup is said to be Saja, Araujo, Majstorovic, Arce, Juanfran, Jahic, Guerreiro, Hersi, Manduca, Nemeth, and Blanco. We will be going 4-4-2 with Blanco and Nemeth up front. A good line-up in my opinion, very strong, with some experienced players.

This, courtesy of GolTV, is the sweetest sight I've seen in a while:

3:00 pm UEFA Europa League Everton vs AEK Athens

Greek Americans rejoice! GolTV seems to have successfully bid for the US broadcasting rights of at least some Europa League Group Stage Matches.

Some important comments to mention about yesterday's match.

Firstly, our to team put on a good performance. Even now more can be improved on. but it was a solid game for the most part with some enjoyable football.

This is definately a good result. On paper, Iraklis are certainly not a pushover this year with some pretty impressive signings being made for them over the summer.

We got a good win tonight at OAKA against a team that could have put up some difficulties. Unfortunately though, its quite late here, so I dont have time to post a review right now. Either I'll write it tomorrow or perhaps if either AEKMAN74 or AEKBaltimore watched the match they'll get something.

A long press conference was held a few days ago by team president Thanopoulos. The president spoke for a couple of hours on a number of issues. Some of the highlights were:

-Firstly, he confirmed that things around the team are now calm. We have achieved our goals in terms of transfers and reaching the Europa League Group Stages

-The team is now on much more solid ground, financially.

This weekend (Labor Day Weekend here in the May-Day-Hating United States) signals the end of the Summer. Â The other thing that always signals the end of Summer for me is the closing of the transfer window. Â It's done now, but not before we squeezed in two last signings. Â I meant to post this a few days ago, but better late than never:

FC Twente have captured Perparim Hetemaj from AEK Athens FC in a swap deal that takes Dutch midfielder Youssouf Hersi from the Netherlands to the Greek capital.

We got the three points here. It wasn't a pretty three points but, at this point in time, I'll take them.

First, the video of our goal, set up beautifully by Nemeth.

Some good aspects to mention about our play today, but overall, it was not an impressive victory.

Our defence today was not the greatest, and Majstorovic and Juanfran in particular were quite poor.

UEFA has a nice piece up on the Roger Guerreiro signing.

And the BBC has an article up on the Krisztian Nemeth loan deal with Liverpool.

ESPN says that Everton face a tricky trip to Athens to play us, but the Liverpool Daily Post seems a bit less worried. We'll show 'em.

AEK have been drawn in group I for the Europa League Group Stage along with Benfica, Everton, and BATE. Not a bad group I must say. We could have gotten a much more difficult but I believe we have a pretty good chance of advancing to the next round.

Benfica should be a tough opponent but they have not been at their best in recent years.

First off, enjoy the video.

Well I posted my review in the comments section of the previous post by AEKBaltimore, but here it is again.

I was nervous about this one before it started but still I had the feeling we would get the win. And we did.

Firstly, as for the game, the team played wonderful football, especially compared to what we were seeing just last week.

Yes, we are through to the next round of the Europa League after a commanding performance at home. I haven't seen the game but I believe AEKAlex went, so he should be posting a review later. No many highlights up on the interweb yet either, but I did manage to find the first goal. Enjoy:

Due to the fires noetheast of Athens, the two matches in Attiki, the AEK-Olympiakos derby and the Panionios-PAOK match, have both been postponed.

It was unfortunate, as I was excited about the match, but it was a needed desicion. Hopefully, nobody will be killed by these fires, and I really hope it gets under control soon.

So, only one more day of waiting before the big game, the one game we all wait for all summer. AEK-Olympiakos, one of the most well known fixtures in Greek football. Unfortunately though, and as much as I hate to say it, I think our chances of winning are very slim. The best result I can see for us is a draw.

We got the loss here I was fearing. Perhaps not a pleasing result but immediately we notice the away goal we scored. This will help us alot since really all we need in OAKA now is 1-0.

Before anything else two points must be pointed out. Firstly, Scocco was out for this match due to cards and will play with us for the next match.

There are loads of articles out there in the interwebs today regarding Kyrgiakos' move to Liverpool. I'll just link to some of the more widely-read sources, such as the BBC and the Telegraph. TVNZ, a site I'd never visited before today but which boasts that it is the "Best Sports Site" according to Quantas Airlines, is reporting on a statement supposedly put out by Kyrgiakos apologizing to fans and clearing up confusion over remarks he made just a week earlier when he claimed he would not move to PAO and was going to play for AEK for Four years:

Liverpool new boy Sotiris Kyrgiakos has delivered a public apology to Greek fans after realising his lifelong dream.

Well Liverpool have confirmed everything here. Its as close to a done deal now and all that remains is the medical. AEK have also stated that they will not get in his way if this it what Kyrgiakos really wants.

While I'm proud to see Kyrgiakos going to play abroad for Liverpool what is disgusting me is the way Liverpool are trying to negotiate things.

One final friendly loss for our team before our first Europa League match against Vaslui.

Below is the video of our goal, scored by Leonardo although it deflected of a number of players.

A 3-1 loss at this point really isn't the most encouraging result but it must be pointed out that the squad playing today was largely a B-Team.

Our centre back, Sotiris Kyrgiakos, had this to say about the recent press reports stating that Pao are interested in him

Answering for the first time in my life to a newspaper article I have to say that:

I never go on a yacht because I feel seasick. I can't understand why the legal dispute that I have with Panathinaikos, and it is not final yet, many people consider it as a proposal from the team.

Some news to report about our team. First, the good news. Ismael Blanco has signed an extension to his contract which will keep him at AEK until 2013. The new contract will also include a 100,000 euro raise, which means he will ne making 500,000 euros a year now. Good to see we'll be keeping our best striker at the club for a few more years.

So, we lost this one but it was not at all a bad performance by our team, and was definately the best game we've seen AEK play all pre-season. First of all, goal highlights.

Unfortunately I haven't seen a video with more highlights uploaded yet, but we had many chances, just as many if not more than Boca.