PAOK-Olympiakos: “Final” with 3rd place prize

“Battle” PAOK and Olympiakou with a 3rd place prize.

The “two-headed team of the North” welcomes the “red and white” in Toumba at 20:00 (NovasportsPrime, News Bulletin 247, sport-fm.gr) in this year’s curtain-raiser Stoiximan Super League.

Things are clear: The hosts only want the victory to catch the guests at 70 points and finish 3rd, while the Piraeus team also needs a draw. There is one important difference. PAOK with a win it finishes behind AEK and Panathinaikossecuring the ticket for the Europa League from now on, while o Olympiakos with a draw or a win finishes behind the Union and the “clover”, but does not secure the Europa League. Because, the people of Thessaloniki have before them the final of the Novibet Cup and by winning it they will compete in the 2nd European competition, whatever has happened in the championship. PAOK will surpass Olympiakos in the event of a draw in the event of a win today, since they will have 7 seven points (against Piraeus’ 4) in the matches between them.

It is recalled that the criteria in case of a tie are:

– The total number of points collected by each team in all matches of the Championship (during the Regular Season and the Playoffs / Playouts combined).

– The goal difference that each team has between the tied teams again in all matches of the Championship (during the Regular Season and Playoffs / Playouts combined).

– The position occupied by each team among the re-tied teams in the Regular Season of the Championship.

THE PAOK comes from the comfortable “double” against Volos with a score of 2-0, while he is undefeated with a record of 2-1-0 after the two consecutive defeats he had suffered against Panathinaikos (1-2) and AEK (4-0). Lucescu’s side have two games to go before they go on holiday and both are… finals. Against AEK in the literal sense, while for the reasons we mentioned above, the match against Piraeus is very important. They are expected to play their last match in front of the team’s audience Biseswar and El Kaduri, as their contracts are expiring and apparently will not be renewed. Ingason, Augusto, Tyson and Sastre return, Oliveira and Narey remain out, while Kurtic is in the squad after six months.

THE Olympic he goes with good psychology to a critical “battle”, due to the victory with 1-0 in the derby with Panathinaikosbut also because of the improvement it has shown lately, since it was preceded by 0-0 with AEK at OPAP Arena, which was combined with good looks. The “red and whites” know that if they are not defeated in Toumba, they will finish a difficult and special – in every way – season in 3rd place and they will hope that the PAOK in the final of the Novibet Cup so they can play at Europa League next season and gain two weeks off in the summer. The Piraeus team will include Paschalakis, who returned in record time, as well as Ba, who overcame his injury, while the suspended Ramon is out.

The mission of PAOK: Kotarski, Zivkovic, Sastre, Vierinia, Ingason, Kenziora, Koulierakis, Nasburg, Rafa Soares, Kurtic, Douglas, Dadas, Filipe Soares, Schwab, Tyson, Bisesvar, Constantelias, A.Zivkovic, Ricardo, Brandon and Jimas.

The mission of Olympiakos: Androutsos, Ba, Bakabou, Boutoutsi, Kanos, Cisse, El Arabi, Fortounis, Huang, Kasami, Christianson, Embila, Masouras, Doi, Reabciuk, Paschalakis, Biel, Retsos, Rodinei, Samasekou, Papastathopoulos, Tzolakis, Valbuena, Vrousai.

The possible compositions

Olympiacos (Jose Anigo): Tzolakis – Rodinei, Papastathopoulos, Doi, Reabchiuk – Embila, Samasekou, Huang – Biel, Fortunis, Bakabou

PAOK (Razvan Lucescu): Kotarski – Sastre, Nashberg, Ingason, R. Soares – F. Soares, Augusto – Zivkovic, El Kaduri, Constantelias – Brandon

Referee: Angelus Evangelou (Athens)

Assistants: Polychronis Kostaras (Ait/nias), Andreas Meidanas (Achaia)

4th Referee: Andreas Gamaris (Athens)

VAR: Andre Narciso (Portugal), AVAR: Vassilis Nikolakakis (Lassithiou)