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Real had served warning of their attacking intent with just three minutes gone when Cristian Diaz headed over from Jaime Sansegundo Garcia's right-wing cross. Diaz then made amends for his miss just a minute later when his cross found Ruiz waiting to tap into the goal from close range.
 
Panathinaikos had a half-chance to equalise soon afterwards but Evangelos Anastasopoulos' good work retrieving the ball in midfield and sliding in Charalampos Mavrias was undone when the right-winger shot tamely at the goalkeeper.
 
On the half-hour mark it was the diminuitive Anastasopoulos who again caused the Real defence a problem, jinking his way into the penalty area only to be denied by a last-minute block.
 
However, Real very nearly doubled their lead three minutes before the break when striker Alvaro Martin, who hit three goals against Honvéd on Thursday, broke free on the left of the penalty area but his low pass across the face of the goal evaded his colleagues and the chance was lost.
 
The first half of the second period was a turgid affair but Panathinaikos suddenly burst into life on the hour mark, Valentinos Vlachos sliding the ball through to Alexandros Tachmazidis but he
blazed over from 13 metres. Three minutes later and the Greek team scored a deserved equaliser,
substitute Giannitsanis breaking clear and lifting the ball past fellow substitute goalkeeper Ricardo Manchado.
 
Giannitsanis had certainly made a difference and with the team now playing two upfront instead of one they were threatening with almost every attack. Real tried to respond but they could barely
break out of their own half such was Panathinaikos' dominance over possession.
 
There was to be a twist in the tail though. Greek defender Konstantidis Triantafyllopoulos slipped over the ball when the last defender and Ruiz pounced on the mistake, racing through to thump
the ball past goalkeeper Alexandros Tampakis and secure the win for Real.
 
The Spanish giants will now contest the the bronze medal match with Slovan Bratislava while Panathinaikos will look to avoid finishing last when they take on hosts Puskás Akadémia Fehérvár tomorrow.
 
Real Madrid 2-1 Panathinaikos

Felcsút, Att: 600. Referees: Sándor Szabó. Assistants: Róbert
Kispál, Vencel Tóth II. 4th official: István Vad II.
 
Goalscorers: Real Madrid - Ruiz (4', 77'). Panathinaikos -
Giannitsanis (63').
 
Yellow Cards: Real Madrid: Poirrier (13'), Ruiz (39'), Santiago
(42'), Martinez (75') Panathinaikos: Triantafyllopoulos (80+1).
 
Real Madrid CF: Ricardo Garcia (GK) (Ricardo Manchado 41'), Martinez, Gutierrez (Jorge Martin 57'), Sergio Garcia, Poirrier, del la Cruz (c), Ruiz, Martin, Santiago, Diaz (Delgado 49'), Jaime
Garcia (Suarez 41').
 
Panathinaikos FC: Tampakis (GK), Marinakis, Triantafyllopoulos, Tsigkros (Tassopoulos 57'), Lagos, Mavrias, Anastasopoulos, Fourlanos (c), Vlachos, Kousidis (Giannitsanis 57'), Tachmazidis.