The Cup final was also very important for the supporters of PAOK – there was a good chance for a double. So, they were probably very bitter at the end, but that was the reality: PAOK was not really a great squad. They faced Larissa, the only really improving team this season and thus eager for success. Larissa won 4-1!
Sweet victory!
Larissa with the Cup – now, this was a great moment for true underdog, for PAOK, although rarely winning anything, at least was among the big clubs of Greece – Larissa was lowly, usually concerned with keeping place in the top league and not very successful at that.
The Cup final perhaps showed the limitations of PAOK best – sturdy, but not great. Not especially strong, rather ordinary. A double proved to be too much for the boys.
It looked like a Cinderella story – true, Larissa was rapidly progressing team, but they came out of the blue and their progress did not even bring them at par with the relatively weak leading clubs. It also looked like a victory on the wings of enthusiasm, making the difference against not so strong opponent – an opportunistic victory, a one-time-wonder. Larissa never won anything before. They reached the Cup final the previous year and lost it. It was historic moment for them, it was a victory to be remembered for ever. It was also logical result of improvement – the team reached the Cup final in 1983-84, now their progress continued and the team was getting very close to the leaders, they reached the Cup final again and this time won – experience was added to enthusiasm and perhaps there was a wise decision made before the season to bet on Polish connection. The former Polish national team player Kazimierz Kmiecik, a member of the great 1974 Polish squad, came in 1983. In the summer of 1984 two more Poles arrived – the forward Krzysztof Adamszyk came from Legia (Warszawa) and the coach Andrzej Strejlau from Fram (Denmark). This worked perfectly – Larissa just jump up and won its first trophy. And it looked like the team was going to stay strong – the Poles were too old to be considered valuable by the big clubs, there were no other starry players in the squad, so there was no big danger the teams would be plundered. Keeping the team and improving on it was the the likeliest situation.