2018–19 AEK Athens F.C. season

The 2018–19 season was the 95th season in the existence of AEK Athens F.C. and the 58th competitive season and fourth consecutive in the top flight of Greek football. They competed in the Super League, the Greek Cup and the Champions League. The season began on 8 August 2018 and finished on 11 May 2019.

Supplier: Capelli
Sponsor(s): Pame stoixima
Features: LG Corp

AEK having won the championship after 24 years, aimed to enter the group stage of the Champions League. However, last season's championship-winning team had begun to fall apart well before the start of the summer. Initially the contract of Manolo Jiménez, was expired and despite his highly successful second spell at the team's bench, he decided not to renew it and return to Spain to sign for Las Palmas,^[1] in order to be close to his family.^[2] The Sevillian manager was immediately replaced with Marinos Ouzounidis, who despite his very good job at the bench of then problematic Panathinaikos and at the league's smaller clubs, had no experience in playing with the pressure of claiming the league. Afterwards, one of the most valuable players of the previous season, Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, who did not agree with the management about his contract, did the unthinkable and signed for Olympiacos, with the assumption of his contract going in the courts, without affecting anything in the end.^[3] Important players such as Giannis Anestis and Jakob Johansson left after the expiration of their contracts, Ognjen Vranješ was transferred to Anderlecht, while Panagiotis Kone and Sergio Araujo returned to their clubs after their loan spells ended, with the latter reuniting with his former manager. Araujo was replaced with the loan of another great Argentine striker, Ezequiel Ponce from Roma. In addition, AEK proceeded with the loans of Marios Oikonomou, Alef and Lucas Boyé, while activating the purchase option of Marko Livaja and acquired Stratos Svarnas, Christos Albanis and Giannis Gianniotas.

The competitive obligations started with the Champions League qualifiers, where AEK were drawn against the Scottish champions, Celtic. In the first leg at Celtic Park the yellow-blacks found themselves behind early on, but managed to level the game and equalize before the half-time. In the second half, while AEK were starting to get the game under control, they were left with 10 players, due to the unjustified dismissal of Galanopoulos, but managed to keep the final 1–1. In the rematch at the Olympic Stadium, AEK managed to dominate the game from the start and quickly took the lead with 2 goals at the beginning of each half. However, after the second goal the yellow-blacks played to keep the score with the Scots pressing, but all they managed was to go down in the final 2–1. AEK were a breath away from the group stage with their only obstacle being the Hungarian champions, MOL Vidi. In the match of the Groupama Arena, AEK pressed their opponent, managing to take an easy lead with 2 goals, but an unfortunate tackle by Bakasetas resulted in his dismissal with a straight red card and from there on the roles were reversed with Vidi constantly pressing and scoring the goal that put them back in the qualification game. With AEK having a favorable 2–1 score from the first leg, they went into the second leg playing conservatively and at a low tempo, keeping control of the game. At the start of the second half, AEK won a penalty and made it 1–0, with the Hungarians then gaining ground on the pitch and equalizing in a moment of inactivity of the yellow-black defense. AEK continued to try to freeze the game's tempo and keep the ball in their possession and especially after being left with 10 players from the 80th minute, they delayed just waiting for the match to end. The final whistle found AEK in the Champions League group stage and Livaja receiving an unacceptable red card for attacking an opponent player, as well as a 4 match ban. After that match, AEK completed a 14-game unbeatean streak in the UEFA competitions, breaking their previous record for the longest ubeatean run in Europe for a Greek team.^[4] They were placed in Group E along with Bayern Munich, Benfica and Ajax and having a very difficult task, AEK performed tragically, losing all six matches and thus ending their European campaign.

In the league AEK started well with emphatic wins, but an away defeat to PAOK, as well as a 3-point deduction after a home draw with Olympiacos, left them behind in the title race, which brought disappointment within the team and negatively affected their performance. Ouzounidis, unable to change the team's playing situation and restore them to the title race, resigned in February and was replaced by Jiménez, who had been released from his club since November. The return of the Spaniard to the bench of the team after 9 months failed to change anything, AEK continued their ups and downs in their performance and in the end they barely managed to finish in third place of the standings.^[5]

In the cup, AEK easily finished at top of their group with only wins and prevailed AO Chania−Kissamikos for the round of 16. Afterwards, they eliminated with relative ease Atromitos and Lamia for the quarter-finals and the semi-finals, respectively. In the final AEK faced PAOK for a third year in a row and in a repeat of the last season's final. On 11 May, in a very tight match and after a questionable refereeing, AEK once again lost the title with 1–0 to the black and whites, who won the domestic double.^[6]

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 11 May 2019, 23:59 UTC+3.

Notes

The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 23 July 2018.^[61]

The draw for the play-off round was held on 6 August 2018.^[63]

The group stage draw was held on 30 August 2018.^[64]