# 1988 Greek Football Cup final

The 1988 Greek Cup final was the 44th final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 8 May 1988 at the Olympic Stadium. The contesting teams were Olympiacos and Panathinaikos. It was Olympiacos' twenty-fourth Greek Cup final in their 63 years of existence and Panathinaikos' seventeenth Greek Cup final in their 80-year history. Both clubs were extra motivated for the title since were out of the championship race and were looking for a ticket to the UEFA competition. The match went into penalty shoot-out where the goalkeeper of Panathinaikos, Nikos Sarganis emerged as the hero for his team, saving two penalties and scoring one. In a future interview, the Greek goalkeeper revealed that the owner of Olympiacos, George Koskotas attempted to bribe him for reduced performance in the final. That would be the second time Koskotas was accused for attempted bribery, as he did the same as well on Theologis Papadopoulos and Vasilios Vasilakos of AEK Athens at the round of 16.

## Venue

This was the sixth Greek Cup final held at the Athens Olympic Stadium, after the 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1987 finals.
The Athens Olympic Stadium was built in 1982. The stadium is used as a venue for Panathinaikos, Olympiacos and Greece and was used for AEK Athens in various occasions. Its current capacity is 80,000 and hosted a European Cup final in 1983 and a European Cup Winners' Cup final in 1987.

## Background

Olympiacos had reached the Greek Cup final twenty three times, winning seventeen of them. The last time that they won the Cup was in 1981 (3–1 against PAOK). The last time that they played in a final was in 1986, where they had lost to Panathinaikos by 4–0.
Panathinaikos had reached the Greek Cup final sixteen times, winning nine of them. The last time that they played in a final was in 1986, where they had won Olympiacos by 4–0.
The two teams had met each other in a Cup final seven times in the 1960, 1962, 1965, 1968, 1969, 1975 and 1986 finals.

## Route to the final

| Olympiacos | Olympiacos | Olympiacos | Olympiacos | Round | Panathinaikos | Panathinaikos | Panathinaikos | Panathinaikos |
| Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg | | Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Agrotikos Asteras | 4–0 (H) | 4–0 (H) | 4–0 (H) | First round | Chalkida | 2–0 (H) | 2–0 (H) | 2–0 (H) |
| Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Additional round | Kavala | 7–2 (H) | 7–2 (H) | 7–2 (H) |
| Olympiacos Volos | 6–0 | 1–0 (A) | 5–0 (H) | Round of 32 | Panserraikos | 2–0 | 0–0 (A) | 2–0 (H) |
| AEK Athens | 4–1 | 1–1 (H) | 3–1 (A) | Round of 16 | PAS Giannina | 10–3 | 2–1 (A) | 8–2 (H) |
| Apollon Kalamarias | 2–1 | 0–0 (A) | 2–1 (H) | Quarter-finals | Irodotos | 6–0 | 4–0 (A) | 2–0 (H) |
| OFI | 3–1 | 3–0 (H) | 0–1 (A) | Semi-finals | AEL | 4–1 | 1–0 (H) | 3–1 (A) |

## Match
### Details

| Olympiacos | Panathinaikos |
| GK | Ilias Talikriadis |
| DF | Stratos Apostolakis |
| DF | Alexandros Alexiou |
| DF | Charis Baniotis |
| DF | Petros Xanthopoulos (c) |
| MF | Minas Hantzidis |
| MF | Panagiotis Tsalouchidis |
| MF | Andreas Bonovas | 46' |
| MF | Tasos Mitropoulos |
| FW | Juan Gilberto Funes |
| FW | Nikos Tsiantakis |
| Substitutes: ||
| GK | Georgios Plitsis |
| DF | Theodoros Pahatouridis |
| MF | Giorgos Kapouranis |
| FW | Panagiotis Sofianopoulos |
| FW | Sakis Moustakidis | 46' |
| Manager: ||
| Pavlos Grigoriadis, Giannis Gounaris ||
| GK | Nikos Sarganis |
| DF | Iakovos Chatziathanasiou |
| DF | Kostas Mavridis |
| DF | Giannis Kalitzakis |
| DF | Nikos Vamvakoulas |
| MF | Velimir Zajec (c) | | 75' |
| MF | Louis Christodoulou | | 46' |
| MF | Christos Dimopoulos |
| MF | Juan Ramón Rocha |
| FW | Dimitris Saravakos |
| FW | Lysandros Georgamlis |
| Substitutes: ||
| GK | Antonis Minou |
| DF | Nikos Patsiavouras |
| MF | Vangelis Vlachos | | 75' |
| MF | Chris Kalantzis |
| FW | Kostas Batsinilas | 79' | 46' |
| Manager: ||
| Gunder Bengtsson ||
| Assistant referees: Vasilis Nikakis (Aetoloacarnania) Kostas Dimitriadis (Piraeus) | Match rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra time if necessary Penalty shootout if scores still level Five named substitutes Maximum of two substitutions |