Greek PAOK successfully completed the group stage of the Conference League. Razvan Lucescu’s team took first place in Quartet G ahead of schedule, and in the final match they left no chance for the Finnish HJK.

There is also a Russian trace in the victory over the northerners!

The coach trusts Magomed

PAOK had 13 points before the sixth round of the Conference League group stage. Next came the German Eintracht (9) and the Scottish Aberdeen (3). HJK completed the group table with two points.

Magomed Ozdoev entered the field in the Greek starting line-up. For PAOK fans this can hardly be called news. The Russian firmly took his place in the starting lineup and managed to play in 22 matches after moving to Greece in August. Lucescu trusts the midfielder, and he fully implements the coaching instructions in the center of the field.

The ex-footballer of Zenit, Rubin, Lokomotiv and the Russian national team has not yet managed to score in the current Conference League. But he completed this task too.

Decent job and a beautiful goal

True, at first the Greeks had to play as laggards for half an hour. Already in the sixth minute, HJK opened the scoring – Boyan Radulovic scored. The Finns had a little more motivation, since if they won they could move away from last place. But PAOK did not want to share the points.

In the 37th minute, the hosts equalized the score through the efforts of Ozdoev. Magomed opened up to a pass from Sualiho Meite and fired powerfully from 15 meters. Goalkeeper Niki Mäenpää’s jump did not help HJK. Before the assist, Meite managed to win a duel on the left flank, and his pass to Ozdoev was too easy – none of the defenders were able to stop the ball. Greek commentators greeted Magomed’s goal very emotionally. They screamed as if they couldn’t believe their eyes.

Open video

The teams went into the break with the score tied. In the second half, PAOK turned on extra momentum and literally crushed the unfortunate Finns. In 38 minutes, HJK conceded three times, with the Finns sending one goal into their own goal. The guests, however, managed to reduce the difference – already in injury time, Perparim Hetemaj converted a penalty. But HIC failed to do more. As a result, 4:2 in favor of PAOK.

Ozdoev spent one and a half half in the game, the midfielder left the field in the 71st minute. The Russian did his job with dignity, for which he received praise from Lucescu.

Knows how to score

PAOK scored 16 points and won Group G by a huge margin. The home draw with Aberdeen was the only misfire for the Greeks in the Conference League, not counting qualification. The Scots, by the way, won against Eintracht Frankfurt in the last round (2:0), but still remained in third place.

Now the Greek and German clubs will compete for the European trophy in its spring stage. It is likely that Ozdoev will help PAOK more than once. Now he knows how to score in the Conference League!