AEK-Inter D’Escaldes: The qualification is locked from today and the “Union” continues in Europe

Her first official game this year is tonight AEK (24/07, 21:00), which is called to face her Inter D’Escaldes at the OPAP Arena (sport-fm.gr, News Bulletin 247, CosmoteSports 1), in the first match between them for the second qualifying round of Conference League.

In fact, this will be the first matchup of the “two-header” in a season Mario Iliopoulos in the property of the “yellow and black” PAE.

THE Matias Almeida and his footballers worked hard throughout this period of preparation, so that the team appeared ready in their official European competitions, chasing the qualification to League Phase of the institution.

As the Argentinian coach emphasized on several occasions during the usual press conference before the match, all the games that the “Union” will be called to play – starting with today’s – are critical and decisive for this year’s European future of the team. After all, from the beginning it has been set as basic target the entry of the team into the League Phase of the Conference, so that it does not stay out of Europe from the summer.

The draw allowed the “yellow and black” to start thinking about the tournament’s playoffs, since, if they pass the Andorran team, they will face the winner of the pair in the third qualifying round. Noah-Sliema. Opponents are easy and passable on “paper”, of course it is enough for AEK to confirm this in practice and on the playing field.

So tonight, with the support of 20,000-25,000 fans, “Enos” will try to confirm the title of the favorite and lay a solid foundation for the qualification, in the first game during the Ilias Iliopoulos era, with a view of course to the return matches next Thursday ( 01/08, 19:30).

As for the competitive part, out of the list, as expected after training started this week with their new teammates, there were Erik Lamela, Roberto Pereira and Moses Odubajo, which if the “Union” is qualified, they can be declared in the next list. The same applies to him Steven Zuberwho was left out as due to Euro and the leave he took afterwards he missed almost the entire preparation.

On the other hand now, Inter D’Escaldes, comes from the qualification against Velez Mostar, after the 1-1 away in Bosnia and the impressive 5-1 at home. He is “present” for the fifth consecutive season in the second qualifying phase of a European competition, without ever having gone further. As their coach, Felipe Ortiz, stated, “We are a team without much experience, but we have prepared well for the match. We know that we are a team from another category, but we will try to make it difficult for them”, a sign of the atmosphere that prevails in the club, that they will see the matches with AEK without stress and pressure. In the competition, Asurbe and Torres are doubtful.

Possible lineups for the match:



AEK (Matias Almeida): Strakosa, Rota, Vida, Cullens, Hadjisafi, Simanski, Gacinovic, Jonsson, Eliasson, Ljubitzic, Levia Garcia.

Inter D’Escaldes (Felipe Ortiz): Andre Muniot, Gagego, Alonso, Feher, Puentes, Didi, Berlanga, Lopes, Boujarma, Torre, J. Lopez.

Referee: Lothar Dodd (Belgium)

Assistants: Romain Deville (Belgium), Nico Claes (Belgium)

4th Assistant: Bert Putt (Belgium)