1993–94 AEK Athens F.C. season

Supplier: Basic
Sponsor(s): Phoenix Asfaleies

The supporters of AEK Athens were living historic moments, as the club won the Greek championship for the third consecutive season. In the summer of 1993, the administration of Karras-Melissanidis, in collaboration with the coach, Dušan Bajević, decided to make a small renewal in the roster, even though the team won the championship of the previous season. So the older "veterans" Minou, Vasilopoulos, Karagiozopoulos, Papaioannou and Georgiadis left the club and the younger and talented Kasapis, Borbokis, Vlachos and Vasilis Karagiannis came in, while it was also decided that the "young" Atmatsidis, Tsiartas and Kopitsis, that were acquired in the previous season, would have a more active role within the team.

Bajević presented for yet another year a very strong team and AEK conquered the championship easilier than the previous season, while the team was establishing itself as one of the most important teams in Greek football. The important victories were against Panathinaikos with 1–2 away and 2–0 at home, while the biggest victory in terms of score was against Apollon Athens with 4–0. The title was mathematically sealed after the penultimate match against Apollon Kalamarias. After the game of last matchday against OFI, there was a beautiful title fiesta.

For the first round of the UEFA Champions League, AEK were drawn against the powerful Monaco of Arsène Wenger. In the first match at Stade Louis II, lined up without Manolas, AEK appeared frivolous, unprepared and disjointed, as they were vulnerable in their defensive line, problematic in the midfield and the offense was not particularly threatening. The French created a flurry of chances, but got the win thanks to an own goal by Vlachos. In the rematch of Nikos Goumas Stadium, AEK were not bold and quickly found themselves back in the score with a goal by Djorkaeff, but managed to equalize early enough with Slišković, but without becoming particularly threatening. Afterwards, the fatigue and in general the bad condition of some of their players, as well as the superiority of their opponent, did not allow her to achieve anything special and they were inevitably eliminated. Arsène Wenger, who in the previous season had been eliminated by Olympiacos with two draws, admitted that AEK was a more technical team than the red and whites, but with the difference that the latter had played stronger in the match between them.

In the institution of the cup, AEK initially easily overcame the obstacles of Paniliakos and Asteras Ambelokipoi and reached the quarter-finals of the competition where they faced AEL. They won 0–1 away from home and drew 1–1 at Nea Filadelfeia. In the semi-finals they played against Aris, where they kept the goalless draw in Thessaloniki and beat them in Athens with 2–1. In the final of the against Panathinaikos in the packed Olympic Stadium, one of the best Cup finals of all time took place. Panathinaikos took the lead with a goal by Warzycha in the 31st minute, while in the 54th minute they double their goals with an own goal by Manolas, but AEK found the focus to equalize with goals by Alexandris at the 71st minute and Dimitriadis at the 77th minute, sending the match to extra time. There, Alexandris made it 2–3 in the 95th minute, but three minutes before the end, Panathinaikos equalized with Markos. The match went to penalty shooy-out where Panathinaikos won with 4–2 and took the trophy.

The best players of the team for this period were Alexis Alexandris, Toni Savevski, Refik Šabanadžović, Stelios Manolas, Michalis Kasapis and Vasilis Dimitriadis. The top scorer of both the team and the league was Alexandris, who together with Warzycha scored 24 goals.[1]

• AEK Athens F.C. Official Website
• A.E.K. FC Database