Wakaso sees red in Panathinaikos defeat

Ghana midfielder Wakaso Mubarak was dismissed in stoppage time as Panathinaikos were defeated 2-1 at home by Ajax in their Europa League opener.

The Greek giants had a dream start when Sweden striker Marcus Berg struck the opener after just five minutes.

However, the visitors equalled through Chelsea loanee Bertrand Traore—his first goal for the Amsterdam heavyweights—in the 34th minute, before Jairo Riedewald added a second in the 67th minute.

At this point, Pana capitulated, with Ivan Ivanov seeing red in the 69th minute after picking up a second yellow card.

While Ajax new boy Hakim Ziyech was dismissed ten minutes later, again for an accumulation of fouls, the hosts weren’t able to get back into the match—hitting just two of their ten shots on target—and their night ended in further disappointment late on when Wakaso was sent off for a second yellow card.

The Black Star’s unhappy debut in the Europa League comes in contrast to his excellent Super League debut, as he scored his first goal for his new club in a 3-0 victory at Levadiakos.