Haas strikes The breakthrough came in the 60th minute when Haas got himself behind the Greek defence and rounded goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis to give his club the lead. In an effort to restore parity, and possibly to try and emulate his counterpart, Panathinaikos manager Angelos Anastasiadis introduced Portuguese international Paulo Sousa. His arrival galvanised Panathinaikos, who produced some of their best passages of play with the long-haired midfielder pulling the strings. But it was not enough, and as the Greeks pushed forward in search of an equaliser, which on balance they probably deserved, holes naturally began to emerge at the back. Graz declined to capitalise on these on more than one occasion, most notably when quick distribution from Kazimierz Sidorczuk in goal put three Sturm Graz players through against just two Greek defenders.
Winner arrives But eventually the winner came.
The midfielder needed little encouragement and drove his shot back across the goalkeeper and into the bottom right corner of the goal. The eighty-fifth minute strike put the match beyond the reach of a disheartened Panathinaikos side. Just two minutes later goalscorer Mario Haas spurned the chance of the game. Hass found himself three metres out, with just the keeper to beat. He appeared to look for an offside flag before spooning the ball well over the crossbar.