published: thursday 18 march 2010, 20.45cet r. standard de liège 1-0 panathinaikos fc (agg: 4-1)
dieudonné mbokani's goal confirmed the worst for the greens, condemning the visitors to a second defeat.
dieudonné mbokani ensured there would be no way back for panathinaikos fc, his strike just before half-time adding to r. standard de liege's 3-1 lead from the first leg of their uefa europa league round of 16 tie.
the greens had standard on the back foot for much of the game. sinan bolat made a decent save to keep out a kostas katsouranis header on 11 minutes and then a brilliant one to thwart the same player two minutes from the break. the midfielder pounced on a rebound when giorgios karagounis's free-kick was allowed to skid against a post, but the goalkeeper pushed his drive over the bar.
ıt was a lucky break for standard, and one they exploited to the full deep into first-half added time. with the panathinaikos defence mesmerised by a long punt forward, mbokani toe-poked over the last man, controlled with his thigh and lanced a low shot past alexandros tzorvas to leave nikos nioplias's side needing three goals to force extra time
to their credit they never stopped trying; a scrambling bolat managed to fend away dimitris salpingidis's goal-bound effort moments after mbokani had an offside goal disallowed, and sebastian leto found the goalkeeper similarly alert from a long shot. substitute ante rukavina caught standard napping, but headed over as the belgian side eased through to friday's draw in nyon.
