2017–18 AEK Athens F.C. season

The 2017–18 season was the 94th season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the 57th competitive season and third consecutive in the top flight of Greek football. They competed in the Super League, the Greek Cup, the Champions League and the UEFA Europa League. The season began on 25 July 2017 and finished on 12 May 2018.

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Sponsor(s): Pame stoixima
Features: LG Corp

Having achieved a good previous season, AEK kept their main squad and with Manolo Jiménez on the bench, they made additions to strengthen the team. Having signed Panagiotis Tsintotas and Giorgos Giakoumakis from the previous season, the team also acquired Victor Klonaridis, who returned after 5 years, while from the international market they acquired Uroš Ćosić, as well as Hélder Lopes and Marko Livaja from Las Palmas, with the latter coming as a loan. The club also proceeded in the loan of the international Icelandic winger, Arnór Ingvi Traustason. Past players with great contribution in the previous years, such as Dimitrios Kolovetsios, Ronald Vargas, Christos Aravidis and Tomáš Pekhart left the team.

AEK began their competitive duties in the third qualifying round of the Champions League, where in a difficult draw they faced CSKA Moscow. The Russian team, having great experience from these types of matches and with a stable squad for many years, did not have any difficulties against the inexperienced AEK and with victories by 0–2 in Athens and by 1–0 in Moscow, they eliminated yellow-blacks from the dream of the participation in the Champions League, sending them to the play-off round of the Europa League. There, they got unlucky again, as they were drawn against the Belgian Club Brugge. However, this time the team appeared well-prepared against their opponent and in the first match at the Jan Breydel Stadium they easily held the 0–0, despite being down to 10 men during the second half. In the rematch at the Olympic Stadium, AEK in one of their best European appearances in recent years turned the qualifying event into a triumph, by winning with 3–0 and dominating their opponents throughout the match. Thus, AEK returned to the group stage of the Europa League after 6 years.

In the championship, AEK started equally well, making some additional changes to their roster. Initially, Dídac Vilà who had been in conflict with the management over the termination of his contract, eventually went to Espanyol and Hugo Almeida moved to Hajduk Split. On the last day of the transfer window, AEK managed to bring back on loan Sergio Araujo, who stood out in the last season, as the Argentine could not stay away from the team he was beloved and became the third player to come from Las Palmas during the transfer period. Furthermore, another comeback took place, this time with Panagiotis Kone returning after 9 years, as a loan from Udinese. The team appeared well worked in all their lines and were in contention for the championship from the start. The home win against Olympiacos, where despite their dominance, they conceded 2 goals against the flow of the match, but managed to overturn the score by winning 3–2 and the easy victory over PAOK with 1–0, despite being down to 10 men early in the game, stood out in the first round. While AEK continued with wins, they suffered some losses in games that came close to European games, losing two key players along the way, with the captain, Petros Mantalos, as well as Jakob Johansson, suffering a cruciate ligament injury and practically staying out the rest of the season.^[1]

In the Europa League group stage, AEK were placed in Group D with Milan, Rijeka and Austria Wien. The team, with 1 win and 5 draws, managed to finish in second place with and advance to the round of 32 of the competition after ten years, scoring 8 games undefeated in European competitions. There, they faced the Ukrainian Dynamo Kyiv. In the first game in Athens, AEK entered strongly, but they conceded a goal in the only chance of Dynamo in the match and then the Ukrainians were closed in their area with the yellow-blacks pressing relentlessly equalizing at the end of the match. With no easy task, AEK traveled to NSC Olimpiyskiy, where they pressed Dynamo, who were playing to keep the qualification score. The yellow-blacks missed big chances and in the end the goal never came, with AEK being eliminated without defeat and completing a 10-match unbeaten streak in European competitions.

In the winter, AEK, in order to replace the injured Mantalos and Johansson, proceeded with the transfers of the international Iranian midfielder Masoud Shojaei and the Spanish Erik Morán, while Traustason, Patito Rodríguez and Vinícius departed, with the latter being replaced by Niklas Hult from Panathinaikos. Despite the small roster, the team continued in the same manner in a very competitive league, until the following events occurred. Their contenders for the league, PAOK and Olympiacos faced each other in Thessaloniki and before the start of the game, the coach of the red and whites, Óscar García was hit with a paper roll in the face, resulting in the departure of the squad of Olympiacos and their 0–3 victory on paper. This resulted in PAOK being punished with a 3-point deduction and a one-game home ban, which coincided against AEK.^[2] PAOK filed an appeal and after the midnight before the crucial match, the decision came out returning the points, as well as lifting their home ban,^[3] with the team of Thessaloniki "magically" managing in a few hours to print and sell all the tickets for the match.^[4] So, under these cirmconstances, AEK went to the Toumba Stadium to compete and in a game, where despite the hostile referee, they managed to limit their opponent and everything was going smoothly, until the 90th minute, when at the only big chance of PAOK in the match, Fernando Varela scored with his teammate, Maurício got in the course of the ball with a projection in the air, from an obvious offside position. The referee Kominis initially counted the goal, but after protests from the players of AEK to the assistant, Pontikis and after consultation between the referees, they decided to cancel the goal. This resulted in the major shareholder of PAOK, Ivan Savvidis storming in the pitch with bodyguards to take the team and leave. When the captain of the black and whites, Vieirinha signaled him not to do this, he attacked Kominis. A moment later, he took off his jacket and a revolver was revealed in his belt. Then Kominis decided to stop the match and sent the teams to the locker rooms. After consultation, Kominis returned to the pitch with the players of PAOK to continue the match with the score at 1–0, but the yellow-blacks in the image of the gun refused to come out. The match was abandoned with the score 1–0 in favor of PAOK and the case was transferred to courts, where AEK was vindicated and were awarded the match with 0–3^[5] and with the Thessaloniki team being punished with a 3-point deduction from this year's championship, 3 from the next season's championship, a 3-game home ban and the punishment of Ivan Savvidis and Ľuboš Micheľ.^[6] With this decision, AEK's task of claiming the championship became easier and eventually came true in the home match against Levadiakos, where they managed to mathematically secure the title winning by 2–0, in celebratory atmosphere in the packed Olympic Stadium. After winning the last game at Rizoupoli Stadium against Apollon Smyrnis, AEK were crowned champions and held a title party in Nea Filadelfeia with their fans, in front of their under construction stadium.^[7]

In the cup, AEK emphatically finished at the top of their group with only wins and eliminated Panetolikos just as easily for the round of 16. In the quarter-finals they faced Olympiacos and after a heroic 0–0 draw at Karaiskakis Stadium, prevailed 2–1 at the Olympic Stadium, eliminating them for the second time in a row. Also noteworthy was that AEK had 3 wins, 1 draw and no defeats in 4 matches against the red and whites during the season. In the semi-finals they faced AEL and in the first game the team appeared tired from the back-to-back games, suffering their first defeat in the institution. In the return match the team from Larissa were closed in their area, playing to keep the qualifying score with the yellow-blacks pressing relentlessly throughout the game. In the seventh and final minute of the stoppage time, a goal with a stunning bicycle kick from a difficult angle by Lazaros Christodoulopoulos gave AEK the qualification to the final for the third consecutive year, with the visitors conceding the superiority of the yellow-blacks. For the second year in a row, AEK faced PAOK, who were boiling in anger at losing the championship. This time at the Olympic Stadium on 12 May, AEK appeared tired from their effort throughout the season and lost by 2–0 hands down to title-hungry PAOK.^[8]

NOTE: The players are the ones that have been announced by the AEK Athens' press release. No edits should be made unless a player arrival or exit is announced. Updated 12 May 2018, 23:59 UTC+3.

Notes

The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 14 July 2017.^[51]