Markarian eyes quarter-final slot

Panathinaikos FC moved to within a point of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday night with a 2-1 win against AC Sparta Praha in Athens. That, at least, was the opinion of their Uruguayan coach Sergio Markarian.

Markarian targets Porto
The former Paraguay manager said that a draw at FC Porto on Matchday Eleven would probably be enough to take his side into the last eight. "The important thing is that Panathinaikos are close to qualifying for the last eight - something the club has done in the past," Markarian said. "The target now is one point from two matches, and we'll be looking to get that in Porto."

Second in command
The Greek team lie second in Group C behind leaders Real Madrid CF, with four and seven-point leads over Sparta and Porto respectively. For Markarian, qualification would be a great achievement given that Panathinaikos were bottom of the section when he joined the club in December.

Starting from the bottom
"When I arrived at the club, we were fourth in the group," he said. "So we started from the bottom and won the matches we had to win. So if we do get the point we are looking for, I think justice will have been done. We deserve to be in the next round."

'We did enough'
"Those who were expecting an easy game tonight were proven wrong," he added. "Sparta Praha were far better than they were in the first match, but we still did enough to get the three points and the win. I was pleased with the performance and delighted with my two forwards, [Nikolaos] Liberopoulos and [Michael] Konstantinou." Panathinaikos travel to Porto on 12 March before winding down their second group stage campaign at home to Madrid a week later.

'Worthy winners'
Markarian also received a vote of confidence from his opposite number, Sparta coach Jaroslav Hrebík, who said: "I would like to congratulate Panathinaikos who were worthy winners. They played some good football out there and were better than us."

Hopes dented
Consecutive defeats by Panathinaikos have seriously dented the Czech champions' hopes of progress. Irrevocably so according to Hrebík, who pointed the finger of blame at the injury situation at the Letná stadium. "We had a lot of injury problems going into this match and I couldn't get the defence right," he said. "It was just a matter of waiting for their first goal to go in and for Panathinaikos to win the game. My midfielders in particular were not up to the task - it's no wonder we lost.

'No chance'
"Looking at it rationally, we have no chance of going through - we'd have to win in Madrid for that to happen. My main goal now is to get players back from injury, although anything can happen in football."

Klein shines
The one bright spot for Hrebík was the performance of 18-year-old substitute and goalscorer Martin Klein. "He is very young and very inexperienced, but he played better than the majority of my players who seem to think too highly of themselves," the Sparta coach said. 

Final word
The final word, though, went to Konstantinou, Panathinaikos's two-goal hero. "It was a very important win for us and a giant step towards qualification," he said. "I'm not interested in personal statistics, only in Panathinaikos winning."