Dinamo Zagreb-PAOK: In Croatia for the first qualification step

In the European matches, he returns PAOK!

His team Razvan Lucescu confronts her Dinamo Zagreb in “Maksimir” (22:00, COSMOTE SPORT 2, sport-fm.gr, News Bulletin 247), in the first match between them for the “16” of Conference League.

The “bi-head of the north” was… relaxed here and there three months from European obligations, after securing direct qualification to the “16”, passing as first from the group with Eintracht, Helsinki and Aberdeen. At the same time, Lucescu’s team finished at the top and in regular season of the championship, one point ahead of AEKproving that they were the most stable team in this first part of the season.

THE Dynamo, on the other hand, had a more “tumultuous” European course. The Croatians finished second in a group with Victoria Plzen, Astana and the Balkans, so they had to go through another round of playoffs so that they were in the “16”. There, they made the big surprise, leaving out of continuity the very high-quality one Real Betiswith a win in Sevilla (0-1) and a draw at home (1-1).

Regarding the recent formation, Mr PAOK is in good shape, leaving behind a very bad period that started with the draw with AEK in Toumba (1-1) and ended with the exclusion from Panathinaikos in the Cup. The “doubleheader of the north” counts three consecutive victories with Panaitoliko, Panserraiko and Lamiaall away from home, which took him back to first place in the league.

On the other hand, Dinamo Zagreb they are a very quality team, but they are not having a particularly good season. Croats come from “gela” (1-1) with the Osijek, while they even managed to get the point in the delays. In this way, they stayed at -5 from the top, which is occupied by the Rijekaand figure in third place in the league, although they have fewer matches than the leaders but also the Hajduk Split.

As for his mission PAOKlet’s remember that were left out Samata, Zivko Zivkovic, William Troost-Ekong, Yiannis Michaelidis and Joan Sastre, with the latter being off the European list. In detail, the team consists of Kotarski, Talikhmanidis, Monastirlis, Vieirinia, Oto, Panagiotou, Kenziora, Koulierakis, Baba, Tsigara, Schwab, Ozdoev, Meite, Markos Antonio, Murg, Constantelia, Tyson, A. Zivkovic, Despodov, Brandon and Jima.

“The draw is a draw and we were lucky. We have to accept the draw as it is and give everything in this first match. They are a team with vast experience in Europe and strong as a whole. It is a team that may not have much tension at the moment, but it is organized and knows how to take advantage of opponent’s weaknesses and mistakes. They have good players and I think Misic is their best player. Not only because of the way he plays with or without the ball but because he has a huge personality and leads his team.”he said ahead of the match Razvan Lucescu.

“A demanding game awaits us. It will be hard, maybe not pretty, but we will have to be pragmatic and cynical. PAOK went through a small crisis in February, but overcame it. This shows that they are a strong team mentally. He has a lot of quality and experience, which is also evidenced by the fact that he is first in Greece”said the coach of Dinamo, Sergey Yakirovich.

Possible lineups:

Dinamo Zagreb (Jakirovic): Nevistic, Ristovski, Bernauer, Teofil-Katrin, Perkovic – Sucic, Misic – Kaneko/Spikic, Baturina, Hoxha – Petkovic.

PAOK (Lucescu): Kotarski, Otto, Keziora, Koulierakis, Baba – Ozdoev, Meite – Zivkovic, Constantelias, Tyson – Brandon Thomas.

Referee: Aliyar Agayev (Azerbaijan)

Assistants: Zeinial Zeinialov and Akif Amirali (Azerbaijan)

4th: Elkin Masiyev (Azerbaijan)

VAR: Sascha Stegemann and Pascal Müller (Germany)