Soccer-Panathinaikos ensure place in Champions League qualifiers

By Barney Spender

ATHENS, May 11 (Reuters) - Panathinaikos booked their place in next season's Champions League qualifiers when they beat Aris Salonika 3-1 in the Greek championship playoffs on Sunday and nearest rivals AEK Athens only drew.

The results gave Panathinaikos an unassailable five-point lead over AEK in the end of season mini-league that decides who will have the chance to join champions Olympiakos Piraeus in next year's group stages.

AEK, who finished the regular season in second place two points behind Olympiakos, will now compete in the UEFA Cup.

Panathinaikos produced a stirring second-half performance to beat Aris with three goals in the space of seven minutes.

Greece midfielder Georgos Karagounis got the first after 56 minutes thanks to a through ball from Dame N'Doye who forced an error in the Aris defence to double the lead six minutes later.

Within a minute the Senegalese forward harried the defence into another mistake that gifted Karagounis his second. Aris pulled one back in the 73rd minute when Brazilian forward Thiago Gentil rose unmarked to head home.

AEK needed to match that result in their game at Panionios to have any chance of overtaking Panathinaikos who they play in the final game on Wednesday.

Dari Fernandez gave the home side the lead in the 21st minute but Rivaldo levelled from the penalty spot five minutes later after Ismael Blanco was brought down in the area.