1993–94 AEK Athens F.C. season

Supplier: Basic
Sponsor(s): Phoenix Asfaleies

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In the summer of 1993, the administration of Karras-Melissanidis, in collaboration with the manager, Dušan Bajević, decided to make a renewal in the roster, despite having won the championship of the previous season. Thus the older Minou, Vasilopoulos, Karagiozopoulos, Papaioannou and Georgiadis left the club and the younger Kasapis, Borbokis, Vlachos and Vasilis Karagiannis came in, while it was also decided that Atmatsidis, Tsiartas and Kopitsis, that were signed during the previous season, would have a more active role within the team.^[2]

Bajević presented for yet another year a strong team that won the championship for third consecutive time, easilier than the previous season which they were established as one of the most important teams in Greek football. Amongst the important victories of the season were those against Panathinaikos at both home and away, while the highest-scoring victory was against Apollon Athens with 4–0. The title was mathematically sealed after the penultimate match against Apollon Kalamarias.^[3][4]

For the first round of the UEFA Champions League, AEK were drawn against Monaco of Arsène Wenger. In the first match at Stade Louis II, lined up without Manolas, AEK appeared frivolous, unprepared and disjointed, as they were vulnerable in their defensive line, problematic in the midfield and the offense was not particularly threatening. The French created a flurry of chances, but got the win thanks to an own goal by Vlachos. In the rematch of Nikos Goumas Stadium, AEK were not bold and quickly found themselves back in the score with a goal by Djorkaeff, but managed to equalize early enough with Slišković, but without becoming particularly threatening. Afterwards, the fatigue and in general the bad condition of some of their players, as well as the superiority of their opponent did not allow them to claim anything from the game and they were eliminated. Wenger, who in the previous season had been eliminated by Olympiacos with two draws, admitted that AEK were a more technical team than the red and whites, but the latter had played stronger in the match between them.

In the Cup, AEK initially easily overcame the obstacles of Paniliakos and Asteras Ambelokipoi. In the quarter-finals they faced AEL, where they won 0–1 away from home and drew 1–1 at Nea Filadelfeia. In the semi-finals they played against Aris, where after a goalless draw in Thessaloniki, they defeated them in Athens by 2–1. In the final against Panathinaikos, in a packed Olympic Stadium, reportedly one of the best Greek Cup finals of all time took place.^[5] Panathinaikos took the lead with a goal by Warzycha at the 31st minute, while at the 54th minute they doubled their goals with an own goal by Manolas. AEK found the focus to equalize with goals by Alexandris at the 71st minute and Dimitriadis at the 77th minute, sending the match to extra time. There, Alexandris made it 2–3 at the 95th minute, but three minutes before the end, Panathinaikos equalized with Markos. The match went to penalty shoot-out where Panathinaikos won with 4–2 and took the trophy.^[6]

The main players of the team for this period were Alexis Alexandris, Toni Savevski, Refik Šabanadžović, Stelios Manolas, Michalis Kasapis and Vasilis Dimitriadis. The top scorer of both the team and the league was Alexandris, who together with Warzycha scored 24 goals.^[7]