Greece round-up: Five-star Olympiakos clinch title

Olympiakos Piraeus FC snatched their sixth straight Ethniki Katigoria title today and the 31st in their history after a convincing 5-1 win at FC Aris Thessaloniki .

All square
AEK Athens won 6-2 against FC PAOK Thessaloniki and finished level on points with Olympiakos, but lost out because of the two defeats in their matches against Olympiakos in the league this season. As runners-up AEK will play in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League next season, while Panathinaikos FC, PAOK, Xanthi FC and Iraklis FC have qualified for the UEFA Cup.

Avoiding the drop
Ethnikos Asteras were relegated after losing 2-1 to Panathinaikos, while Panahaiki GC's win away at Ionikos ensured their place in the Hellenic National League next season.

Quick start
Olympiakos made the perfect start against Aris with Alexios Alexandris scoring in the second minute after being played in by Predrag Djordjevic. They doubled their lead a quarter of an hour later through an own goal from Nikos Papadopoulos, the Aris captain.

Top of the pile
Three minutes before half-time Alexandris scored his second of the day from close range and after 54 minutes a curling shot by Djordjevic made it 4-0 for the visitors. Aris substitute Apostolos Liolidis pulled one back in the 76th minute but Alexandris's hat-trick goal - header from close range - made it 5-1, and confirmed him as top scorer in Greece this year with 19 goals.

Nikolaidis double
AEK also got off to a quick start when Vassilios Tsartas gave them the lead in the first minute against PAOK. Demis Nikolaidis then scored twice, with Vassilios Lakis, Sotirios Konstantinidis and Ilia Ivic all adding goals to make the score 6-0, before two late goals from PAOK substitute Stefanos Voskaridis reduced the arrears slightly.

Asteras relegated
Miltiadis Sapanis gave Panathinaikos the lead after 17 minutes against Asteras but, after Goran Vlaovic had missed a 57th-minute penalty, Fotis Lagos gave the home team some hope with an equaliser. However, Krystof Warzycha made it 2-1 to Panathinaikos and relegated Asteras in the process. In Nikea, goals from Nenand Vuksevic and Franck Istilloles gave Panahaiki a 2-0 victory against an Ionikos side with nothing to play for.

Key game
The most dramatic match was the one between Iraklis and Panionios GC in Thessaloniki to decide which team would finish in sixth place in the table and grab the last UEFA Cup spot. Panionios took the lead in the 18th minute with a lob by Karim Mouzaoui and Iraklis then had Nikos Kolobourdas sent off. In the 95th minute, however, Ieroklis Stoltidis's header found the net and the draw meant that they would participate in next season's UEFA Cup at Panionios' expense.

Xanthi and Aigaleo win
Xanthi beat OFI Crete 2-1 with Xanthi thanks to goals from Stavros Labriakos and Abrerahim Ouakili, while Aigaleo beat Akratitos 2-1, Jean-Denis Ouanga and Kostas Papoutsis the scorers, the latter from the penalty spot.