Panathinaikos - Dinamo - 2009

Djibril Cisse struck a late double as Panathinaikos booked their place in the last 32 of the Europa League after rounding off their Group F campaign with a straightforward home victory over Dinamo Bucharest. Ante Rukavina set the Greens on their way with an opportunistic 55th-minute strike before Cisse netted twice in the last 10 minutes to secure all three points for new Greens coach Nikos Nioplias. Nioplias replaced Henk ten Cate last week, as the Athens club finished second in the section behind Turkish outfit Galatasaray. Both teams struggled on the dreadful Olympic Stadium pitch as heavy rain before kick-off made the already worn surface deteriorate further, but there were plenty of chances on offer. Panathinaikos skipper Georgios Karagounis was played in by Cisse after six minutes but he tried to turn rather than shoot and the chance was gone. Cisse then missed a golden chance to score when he fired into the side-netting when clean through. When the pitch did allow for some neat passing, a sweeping move involving Sotiris Ninis, Gilberto and Loukas Vintra almost ended in a goal but the latter's shot was brilliantly saved by visiting goalkeeper Emilian Dolha. Dinamo's best chance of the opening 45 minutes was Ousmane N'Doye's header which was tipped onto the crossbar by home keeper Alexandros Tzorvas, who also had to be alert to parry a Marius Niculae snapshot in first-half added time. The second half began with a flourish with the hosts moving into the lead after just 10 minutes in fortuitous circumstances. Vintra's looping cross was dropped by Dolha under pressure from Cisse, and Rukavina was on hand to prod home gleefully from three yards out. Dinamo responded strongly with blistering strikes from Gabriel Tamas and substitute Adrian Cristea, the former hitting the crossbar and the latter's effort brilliantly tipped over by Tzorvas. But the visitors tired in the closing stages and Cisse delivered two body blows in the final ten minutes, first heading home substitute Sebastian Leto's cross in the 80th minute before slotting home a cross from Dimitris Salpigidis - another second-half replacement five minutes later to put the seal on a comfortable victory.