PAOK-OFI: Remaining at the top or reaction and surprise in Toumba?

The first day of the exciting 16th round of the Stoiximan Super League comes to an end in Toumba. THE PAOK welcomes him OFI (20:00, NOVASports Prime, News Bulletin 247 and live update from sport-fm.gr), in a game where the hosts are the absolute favorites, while the visitors are the outsiders who want to do the “damage” and get a grade or grades.

The “double head of the North” is at the top of the scoreboard with 35 points and +1 from Panathinaikos, but also +3 from AEK and Olympiakos. On the other hand, the Cretans are in 9th place with 15 points and are looking for a reaction after three consecutive defeats in the league.

Initially, in the camp of the “black and white” the holiday season could not have gone better, on the one hand for the first place in the standings and the parallel qualification to the “16” of the Europa Conference League, on the other hand for the renewal of his contract Razvan Lucescuwhich “ties” him to Thessaloniki and to a club that, not without reason, considers him to be the best in its history.

The Romanian players in their last match of 2023 took a comprehensive 6-0 victory over Kifissia, producing formidable attacking partnerships, thus proving that they are in excellent condition. Indicative, moreover, that they remain unbeaten in their last ten games, in which they count nine wins and one draw.

The Thessalonians will have the expected absences for this game, since Razvan Lucescu’s mission left the Andria Zivkovics, Stefanos Tzimas, Konstantinos Koulierakis and Rafa Soares.

In detail, the mission of PAOK: Kotarski, Zivkovic, Vieyrinia, Sastre, Kenziora, Ekong, Michaelidis, Nasberg, Baba, Tsigaras, Schwab, Ozdoev, Meite, Marcos Antonio, Constantelias, Murg, Tyson, Despodov, Brandon, Samata.

On the opposite bank, OFI he ended the year very badly and wants to make a restart, in a venue where last year he got a draw with 0-0. In his first two games Pepe Mel on the bench, the visitors have the same number of defeats and given that the break only did good both physically and mentally.

The Spanish coach will not have the suspended players at his disposal Gagegos and Marinaki, the Glazers and Apostolakis who were injured in training on Sunday (31/12), as well as the injured Christogeorgos as well as the unprepared Checkered. On the contrary, the return of Yiannis Theodosoulakis to the mission for the first time after his injury last May is very pleasant news.

In detail, OFI’s mission: Sotiriou, Bauman, Larson, Pasalidis, Vouros, Giannoulis, Thorarinson, Lampropoulos, Simantirakis, Abanda, Neira, Toral, Riera, Meyado, Koutentakis, Bakits, Diko, Felipe, Theodosoulakis, Mosquera.

Possible lineups:

PAOK (Razvan Lucescu): Kotarski, Sastre, Michaelidis, Kenziora, Baba, Ozdoev, Meite, Despodov, Murg, Constantelias, Brandon.

OFI (Pepe Mel): Bowman – Larson, Caro, Vouros, Torarinson – Meyado, Neira, Toral – Abada, Mosquera, Felipe.

Referee: Chetsilas

Assistants: Meidanas, Mousiadis

4th: Tsimenteridis

VAR: Zelos, Samoilis