“Swallow” Asteras Tripoli with super Zivkovic and it goes… PAOK is gassed with Hearts!

With… the right hand entered the new championship of the Stoiximan Super League PAOK on Sunday night (20/08), prevailing with relative comfort 3-0 of Asteras Tripoli in Toumba, in the premiere of the two teams in the championship!

Despite the fact that the Razvan Lucescu made several changes to the lineup, the “two-headed man of the north” played good and fast football at times, with the protagonists of Andrija Zivkovic who scored two goals, but also Stefan Schwab who handed out two assists!

Somehow, the Thessalonians will travel next Thursday (24/08, 21:45) to Edinburgh with good psychology and calmness for the first encounter with the Hearts, as part of the Conference League playoffs. The only black spot for PAOK from tonight’s match is the injury of Samata, who was replaced in the 84th minute with a problem in the adductors. Concern also exists in Asteras with the injury and forced substitution of Papadopoulos.

In the coach’s mind:

PAOK lined up with several changes Razvan Lucescu, opting for the classic 4-2-3-1. Kotarski was found under the goal, with Vieirinia, Ekong, Michaelidis and Rafa Soares making up the foursome of the defense. Ozdoev and Schwab started in the midfield positions, with Tyson, Murg and Zivkovic in the midfield trio, behind the only promoted Brandon Thomas.

On the other hand, and Milan Rastavac lined up Asteras Tripoli with a 4-2-3-1 system. Papadopoulos was in goal, with Carmona, Kastanio, Djukanovic and Alvares starting in defense. Alagbe and Munafo found a position in the midfield, with Kalcha and Sito competing in the two “wings” of the midfield line. Miritello started at the top, with Crespi further behind him in a free role, replacing Bertolio, who felt discomfort in the warm-up.

The match:

Her first minutes were recognizable showdownafter the two short interruptions due to injuries in the first quarter, did not let the game get a good and fast pace.

The first moment in the match has arrived in the 12th minute, with Ekong getting a header from a corner and the ball going against bodies of defenders. Two minutes later, the home side threatened again when, after some fine movement around the Asteras area, Swab he caught a long shot, with the ball going past Papadopoulos’ goal. Seconds later, it was his turn Brandon Thomas to threaten, but the Spanish forward’s shot from the wide area was countered and made the task of the visitors’ keeper easy.

Then, Mr Asteras Tripoli raised “turns”, making his presence felt in the opposing area. First with Munafo’s misplaced volley in the 18th minute and then a minute later, with Kaltsa stealing from Schwab, “breaking” nicely to the right of Crespiwho from an advantageous position was defeated by Kotarski!

THE PAOK’s answer it was immediate, as three minutes later, Razvan Lucescu’s side opened the scoring wide nice move by Murgwho received Schwab’s fine cross with his back, turned to face the target and strong finish made it 1-0 in the 22nd minute! A lead that the home team maintained with relative comfort until the 40th minute, when one steely branding of Ekong to Miritelos he gave Asteras the opportunity to draw from the white dart. The Argentinian himself took over the execution, scoring however Kotarski’s left post.



At the end of the 45′, referee Fotias awarded a penalty to Tyson’s fall in the Asteras area, a decision that he eventually reversed after a VAR check, yellowing the PAOK midfielder for theatrics.

Determined to clean up the victory case and not to get involved in adventures, PAOK entered the second half. A plan which – as it turned out – worked to perfection for the “two-headed man of the north”, who saw his pressure from the very first minute of the replay quickly bear fruit.

In fact, in the very first good moment of the second half, the hosts were lucky to find a way to the net. Specifically, at 54′the hosts quickly went into transition with Tyson feeding Schwab, who made the turn at the far post, with Zivkovic undisturbed within the area to do easily 2-0!.

Not only did PAOK not make any “turns”, on the contrary, they continued to look for another goal in order to “lock” the three points. In the 57′ and 58′, Tomas and Michaelidis warned the home side of Papadopoulos, with Zivkovic in 59′ to score his second goal of the match by making the 3-0 with an excellent finish from the wide area, after a nice… unfolding of a “black and white” counterattack with Tyson and Murg!

From that point on, the pace dropped noticeably, with the home side still going close to a fourth goal on a few occasions. As for Astera, it has arrived a… breath from the goal of “honor” in the 83rd minute with Manzi’s header narrowly going over Kotarski’s goal.

The “whistle”: Vassilis Fotias had some difficult phases, such as the two penalties he conceded in the first half. In that of PAOK, he had to see the VAR and finally take back his decision, yellowing Tyson for drama.

MVP: The leading player of the match was Andrija Zivkovic, who, apart from the two goals he scored in the second half, was part of many good moments for PAOK.

Watch the match live here.