In the summer of 1985, Karapialis was transferred to the then-Greek Football Cup winner, AEL for 1 million drachmas, and became very popular amongst the fans.
He made his debut against AEK Athens, when Olympiacos won 4–2, thanks to a hat-trick by Oleg Protasov.
[2] Prior to the 1994 FIFA World Cup Greece team, he wasn't included in the squad.
During his retirement as a footballer, he would work for Olympiacos, either as a scout or as a manager to the club's youth teams.
[3] On 5 June 2021, the Greek media announced his official return to AEL to be in charge of all its youth teams.