PAOK are playing a big game against Midland tonight (24/2, 10:00 p.m., COSMOTE SPORT 2 HD and live on Sportish). Dikefalos wants to go back into a spring knockout phase of a European tournament for the first time in many years
PAOK meets Midland at night in Toumba (24/02, 10:00 p.m., COSMOTE SPORT 2 HD and live on Sportish) in their most important European game of the year. Dikefalos wants to overturn the result of the first leg against Denmark and qualify for the 16 of the Europa Conference League.
Everyone in Toumba recognizes that the opportunity to continue advancing their team in Europe is a challenge and that tonight’s game against the Danes is ‘final’.
Tsuba Akpom’s injury in the last training session on Wednesday (February 23) is a major setback for Razvan Lucescu. The Dikefalos coach stressed that he has absolute confidence in Antonio Tsolak, who will replace the Englishman at the forefront of Dikefalos’ attack.
The Croatian, who scored five goals in eight matches for Champions League qualification in the summer wearing the Malm. PAOK need a goal to qualify and any help they get in their attack will be important.
The dilemma on the left and the return of Kurtic
Lutsescu’s shots can be asked two questions about the left side of the bicep. On defense there is a dilemma of who will start from the Cindley or Vierinias when Lyratzis, Ingason, Crespo definitely seem to have a place. Lucescu has tried both but it seems that his leader has a small lead over the Brazilian.
On the left side of Dikefalos is about the second dilemma, with Biseswar and Mitritsa arguing over the position in front of the back. The Suriname player also featured in the 90 minutes of the local derby with Aris while the Romanian was ruled out of the mission to catch his breath.
Important in midfield is the return of Jasmine Kurtic, who will have Harry Tsigaras by his side. The Slovenian, Dikefalos’ top scorer, missed a lot from his side in the first leg against Midtjylland in Denmark and his availability is a significant boost for Thessaloniki’s side.
Lucescu expects a lot from Zivkovic
Logically, in front of Kurtic and Tsingara will be Douglas Augusto, who together with Tsolak will be PAOK’s first line of pressure when the Danes are on the ball.
Lucescu expects a lot from Andrija Zivkovic, who will play on the right flank in front of Lyratzis. The Serb, who is otherwise a “barometer” for Dikefalos’ attack, has to score in the last game of the Conference League group from the match against Lincoln.
But even if he’s not at his best, he remains important for the phase formation and his performance will be one of the ‘keys’ in the effort his team will make towards qualifying.
