PAOK kicked the opportunity

The opportunity to lock the 2nd place of the 6th group of the Europa Conference League was lost on Thursday (25/11) by PAOK, who stayed at 0-0 with the Slovan in Bratislava. Despite the fact that he played in camera “Stadion Tehelne pole” and while he had the best – but not many – moments in the match, he could not score and now depends on the result in Copenhagen-Slovan.

Rasvan Lucescu’s team remained in 3rd place, equal (8b.) With the 2nd Slovaks -who are currently superior, due to the better goal difference-. Thus, in the 6th and last match, where he welcomes Lincoln, to finish 2nd must either bring best result from Slovan, which is hosted by the indifferent Copenhagen (secured first place with a 4-0 win over Lincoln) either or (over) cover the difference in goals (Slovan at +3 and PAOK at +2) or if they are equal in this criterion, to reach a better overall attack (8-6 their assets so far). Of course, he can take 2nd place even if he loses, in case Copenhagen wins with several goals.

The rating of the group:

1. Copenhagen 12b. (13-5)

2. Slovan Bratislava 8b. (8-5)

3. PAOK 8b. (6-4)

4. Lincoln 0b. (2-15)

(The first qualifies directly for the “16”, while the second gives knockout matches with a team that will finish 3rd in a group of the Europa League)

The 6th and last match:

Thursday (9/12)

PAOK-Lincoln (22:00)

Copenhagen-Slovan Bratislava (22:00)

Best for the guests Biseswar and Zivkovic, by Mitritsa be quite active after entering the last minutes. He left before the start of the second part – because nuisance in the posterior femur- o Crespo, with Mihai taking his place.

In the… minds of coaches:

With system 4-2-3-1 presented PAOK Rasvan Lucescu and Paschalakis under the beams. In defense, from right to left, Taylor, Varela, Crespo and Siddklay started, with Asiti – as expected – starting next to Kurtic in the duo of midfielders, instead of Swab. El Kaddouri was moving in a free role behind the only promoted Akpom, with Biseswar and A. Zivkovic being on the two wings of the midfield, left and right, respectively.

The “biceps of the North” did not have at his disposal Michailidis, who is serving a sentence, while the injured Augusto and Vierinia were absent (he traveled with the mission for psychological reasons), as well as Ingason, Rodrigo, Oliveira and Caligo are not in the European list.

Same system from Vladimir Weiss, who chose Hovan for the goal, with Medvedev, Kasia, Bozikov and De Marco in defense. In the midfield were Agbo and Ibrahim, with Green, Weiss and Zmrhal moving behind Heidi.

The match:

PAOK entered the first minutes of the match with a clear disposition to push high. In the 6′ had his first good moment with his direct foul Kurtic, which was blocked by Hovan.

The hosts took the initiative of the moves and as the time passed they gained meters on the field, having more coherence and playing combination football. However, they could not make significant phases. The best they created had as their main exponent Biseswar, who in 31′ missed the biggest opportunity for Thessaloniki: Siddklay made the parallel turn from the left, with the unmarked Dutch midfielder catching the shot between a penalty and a large area, which ended up over the crossbar.

At the same time, PAOK had good returns and did not accept phases, with Medvedev threatening with a diagonal finish in 43′, in the biggest moment for the hosts. Double the finals –8(2) against 4(1)– at the end of the first part for Lutsescu’s team, which had 61% possession of the ball.

The second half started with a forced change for PAOK, with him Michael to replace him Crespo.

The guests seemed to come in heavier, however until the 60 ‘Slovan was the one with the two best moments, thanks to the heads of Agbo (57′) and Green (60′).

Gradually from 64 ‘to 72’ Lutsescu threw in their field Swab, Murg and Sfinderski. The latter missed a great opportunity at 78′, when after a very nice counterattack unfolding, he converged, caught the shot, with the ball passing next to the right crossbar.

His entrance Mitritsa gave extra impetus to PAOK, with Kasias blocking the promotion of the Romanian midfielder at the last minute in 88′. In the last minutes, the “biceps of the North” surrounded the opponent’s area, but without being able to find the winning goal.

MVP: Whatever created best in the first part, PAOK had as its main spokesman Diego Biseswar, with Andrija Zivkovic quite active. The informal title will go to the first.

The whistle: The match for the Dutchman Dennis Higgler went without difficult phases.

The compositions of the two groups:

Slovan Bratislava (Vladimir Weiss): Hovan – Medvedev, Kasia, Bozikov, De Marco (90 ‘Da Silva) – Agbo, Ibrahim (90’ Maraz) – Green (70 ‘Chavritz), Weiss – Zmraj (70’) .

PAOK (Rasvan Lutsescu): Paschalakis – Taylor, Varela, Crespo (46 ‘Mihai), Siddklay – Kurtic, Esiti (64’ Swab) – A. Zivkovic, El Kantouri (72 ‘Murg), Biseswar (86’ Mitritsa) – Akpom (72 ‘Sfin.

On the bench for the hosts were left: Soula, Hrdina, De Camps, Abena, Hrnca, Litsi, Voitko.

On the bench for the guests were left: Z. Zivkovic, Talichmanidis, Lyratzis, Tsigaras, Koutsias.

Referee: Dennis Higgler

Assistants: Erwin Zeistra and Mario Dicks

4th Referee: Sander Van de Eik.

Watch here the live of the match.