PAOK with Beitar Jerusalem, Aris with Ararat or Egnatia!

One could say that he had the worst possible draw PAOK in the second qualifier of the Europa Conference League! The “two-headed one of the North”, which has been unlucky, basically, since the morning, when it came out subgroup of, fell on the Israeli Beitar Jerusalemwith the first game, in fact, being held in Toumba on July 27 and rematch in Israelon August 3.

On the contrary, more passable, theoretically always, was the draw for Mars. The “yellows” were drawn in pairs and not a direct opponent, as they ran into the Ararat-Egnatia. Whichever team makes it through this pairing will face Aris, with the first game taking place either in Armenia or Albania and the rematch at “Kleanthis Vikelidis”. Of course, the same dates with those of PAOK.

Now, in terms of the profiles of the three teams, Beitar is the Cup winner Israel, as they won the trophy last year, defeating Maccabi Netanya 3-0 in the final, while finishing in 7th place in their league with a record of 9-4-13. Obviously, it is not a threat, but it is an Israeli team, which, especially in this period – and because of the weather – is used to taking the oil out of their opponents! Yes, both teams they have met againin 2000, in its first phase UEFA Cup then! PAOK had won the first game with a score of 3-1 in Toumba, but made things difficult in the second leg and threatened with exclusion although he was ahead 2-0! Finally, he got the draw 3-3, with Tohouroglou to contribute decisively to the qualification. Also Beitar he had played in the distant 1993 with Iraklis in Intertotowith the “Old Man” winning with a score of 2-1 in Israel, with Ivan Jovanovich to open the score!

She has it in her trophy case six championships and eight Cups, while their last appearance in Europe was in the 2020/21 season, when they were eliminated in the Europa qualifiers by Ceuta of Albania with two defeats. Her last win in Europe was in the summer of 2017, when she beat Hungary’s Vasa in Europa.

Regarding the two potential opponents of Aris, Ararat finished 3rd in the Armenian league, while the presence of the 35-year-old stands out in its roster today Gevork Ghazarian, who has passed through Olympiakos, Lamia and Corfu. Egnatia also finished in 3rd place, while winning the Albanian Cup, beating KF Tirana in extra time with Jackson’s goal in the 115th minute. The Ararat-Egnatia matches will be held on July 13 and 20.

It is worth noting that both in the second qualifier of the Conference and in the third there is no VARalthough earlier it became known that the European confederation has decided to extend the use of the technology to both rounds before the group stage of the Champions and Europa League. No, but also of the Conference…