Thessaloniki giants PAOK and Aris beat their Athens rivals, Panathinaikos and AEK respectively, to edge closer to their objectives, i.e. the unbeaten Super League triumph for PAOK, and the fifth place, that may lead to a European spot, for Aris.

PAOK scored at the start of each half, through Mauricio and Leo Jaba, to beat Panathinaikos 2-0 in Athens on Sunday, although it finished the game with 10 men. The hosts protested about a foul in the first goal.

The result has taken PAOK 10 points above second-placed Olympiakos which is visiting bottom Apollon Smyrnis on Monday.

On Saturday Aris beat AEK 2-0 at home, thanks to goals from Daniel Larsson and Lindsay Rose, and has opened a six-point gap from sixth Panathinaikos. It has also got to within six points from AEK as well as Atromitos, that saw off Panionios 3-0 on Sunday at Peristeri.

Asteras Tripolis moved closer to safety with a 3-0 home win against Panetolikos, even though it played with 10 men from the third minute.

In the rest of the weekend’s action, Levadiakos and Lamia ended up at 1-1, while PAS Giannina and Xanthi at Ioannina remained goalless, as did OFI and Larissa in Iraklio.