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Stalemate in Greece extends Aris run |
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Aris Thessaloniki remained unbeaten at home in UEFA club competition this season by holding Bayer Leverkusen to a lacklustre scoreless draw in Group B of the Europa League.
The Germans remain leaders in the group with five points after three match days while Aris have four points, but neither will take much pleasure from their performance in this game.
Aris extended their unbeaten streak in European home fixtures to 23 matches with 12 wins and 11 draws since making their debut with a 1-1 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup draw against Chelsea in September 1970.
The game started with plenty of effort from both teams but neither could break through the opposing defence for a real goal chance in the early going.
There were very few highlights as Leverkusen had more ball possession but failed to get anything going against the Greeks, who waited for a counter attack.
The first chance of the contest came in the 40th minute with Michal Kadlec's low free-kick getting past the Aris wall but goalkeeper Michalis Sifakis was able to get down in time to push it away from danger.
The second half started much the same as the first until the Greeks had two chances within three minutes with Juan Carlos Toja's long distance shot going wide left in the 55th minute and Koke being fed a through ball before striking past the far left post moments later.
Leverkusen could not find any rhythm in their attack and Aris would only occasionally venture forward, for example with Toja's second long blast in the 78th minute which went just wide right of Rene Adler's goal.
Leverkusen coach Jupp Heynckes brought on Eren Derdiyok to try and liven things up but the Switzerland international could not bring the German offence into gear.
In the end, the Greek backline of Kristi Vangeli, Ronaldo, Nikos Lazaridis and Michel Garbini stymied one push forward after another and did not let Leverkusen get the ball into the box.
The two teams face off again on November 4 in Leverkusen and the fans can only hope for better fare.
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