PAOK-Dinamo Zagreb: With their backs against the wall to make history, the “two-headed man of the North”!

In an all or nothing gameThe PAOK welcomes her Dinamo Zagreb in Tuba (19:45, Cosmote Sport 3, News Bulletin 247 and live update from sport-fm.gr) for the rematch of his “16” phase European Conference League and is called upon to overturn the 2-0 of “Maximir” in order to be in the quarter-finals of the competition.

The “black and white” were introduced inferior to the circumstances in Croatia. They had a lot of wrong decisions and just like that, after Yoni Otto’s bad turn, Bruno Petkovic opened the scoring, who also scored the second goal in the replay. The trio of Tyson-Konstandelia-Zivkovic did not offer in the creative part, while o Jim in the ten minutes he fought, gave more from Thomas, who started as a starter.

The “two-headed man of the North” continued his bad performances, which show the deformation he has been going through lately, knowing the defeat in the premiere of the playoffs by Aris with 1-0. Razvan Lucescu and his players, however, cannot stay there any longer as tonight’s game is do or die. Either you pull off the upset, making history as PAOK have never overturned a 2-0 scoreline in a European knockout game, or stay out of Europe and the negativity continues at the break for the national teams.

The Romanian coach doesn’t seem like he will proceed with any bold change in the lineup, while he wants to see efficiency in the opportunities that will present themselves. Something he explained, moreover, to Press conference:

“We have to make the opponent come out of their area to play our game against a team that knows how to set up on the field, we have to have confidence and find a way to finish the phases. There was a lack of reaction and will to go forward in Zagreb as we rarely got into the area with more than one player“, were, among other things, his words Lucescuwho had lunch with the players in a Thessaloniki restaurant on Tuesday (12/03), following the initiative of the captain, Andre Vieirinia.

The problems with the injured concern, exclusively, the defensive part, since the 55-year-old will not have at his disposal Michaelidis, Ekong, Sastre, Rafa Soares and Nasberg. In detail, the mission of the “black and white”: Kotarski, Zivkovic, Talikhmanidis, Vieirinia, Otto, Panagiotou, Kenziora, Koulierakis, Baba, Tsingaras, Schwab, Ozdoev, Meite, Markos Antonio, Constantelias, Murg, A. Zivkovic, Tyson, Despodov, Jimas, Brandon, Samata.

On the opposite bank, Dinamo Zagreb she has a big lead from the victory she got in the first match, while her psychology is in ideal situation after its extensive 5-2 victory over Slaven last Sunday (10/03) for the championship.

“We should pay attention to the attacking triplet of PAOK, just as I pointed out in the first game. To Andrija Zivkovic, Tyson, Constantelia. I don’t know if in the first game we were better or if they weren’t on their best day, but I’ll stick with them. Konstantelias is a young player with a very big future ahead of him“, said the coach of Dinamo, Sergey Yakirovichabout what his players should pay attention to.

At the same time, the new Croatian president made a special revelation, Velimir Zaets, in statements he gave to ERT3 and the show “The World of SPORTS” upon the arrival of the Zagreb team in Thessaloniki. Specifically, he said that if Dinamo reaches the final of the competition, he it won’t be in New Philadelphia and OPAP Arena as planned, but in the Czech Republic.

“It’s a good venue, I hope we play in the final. If we play that will be difficult because then you have to pass several opponents. If we go, Dinamo cannot play at AEK’s stadium. He will go to the Czech Republic“, stated Zaets, who, given that until now UEFA has not informed about the possibility of changing the venue of the final, implied that it will not be possible to find Dinamo fans at the OPAP Arena, where last August Croatian hooligans with their Greek accomplices murdered the AEK fan, Michalis Katsouri.

Possible lineups:

PAOK (Razvan Lucescu): Kotarski – Otto, Kenziora, Koulierakis, Baba – Schwab, Meite – Zivkovic, Constantelias, Tyson – Samata.

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

Referee: Harm Osmers (Germany)

Assistants: Robert Kempter, Dominik Schaal (Germany)

4th: Robert Schroeder (Germany)

VAR: Soren Storks, Benjamin Brandt (Germany)