PAOK defeated Gent 1-0 in Toumba with a goal from Kurtic and will give their all in Belgium but without Slovenia and Zivkovic to move up to the “8” of a European institution for the first time in their history.
PAOK with a goalscorer who else? Jasmine Kurtic, who scored his 18th goal of the year, fifth from a foul, clinched a valuable win he even wanted 1-0 against Gent and will capture qualifying in 90′ in next week’s second leg in Belgium.
A black spot for the biceps are the yellow cards that Kurtic and Zivkovic saw during the game and that will prevent them from participating in the second game on Thursday (17.3.).
However, PAOK is enough to keep zero in defense to qualify for the “8” of a European institution for the first time in its history.
Razvan Lucescu’s team had a great Lyrantzis in their ranks, who played his best game with the PAOK jersey and Kurtic scored again, albeit with the help of luck, and claimed a win, the biggest so far of the season. and of course he can dream of qualifying for the next phase.
With the experienced in the eleven
As expected, Lucescu fielded a team with several experienced players, both from PAOK and from Europe. Paschalakis stood at the goalposts, Vierinia at the left end of defense and the two stoppers were Crespo and Ingason, while Lyratzis played on the right. Tsigaras was in midfield with Kurtic alongside him and the trio at the top consisted of Zivkovic, Biseswar and Augusto while Akpom was at the forefront of the attack.
The hosts didn’t get into the game well, Gent was the one who had the ball on his feet as he put pressure on PAOK’s defence, stealing balls and trying to hit the attack quickly with no result and no mainly endgames towards Paschalakis’ home .
PAOK demanded a penalty
In an unsuspecting phase, initially occupied by Biseswar and justified by the replays, he demanded a penalty from the right in the 21st minute, made the parallel ball to Akpom, Engando found the ball with his hand, changed his course to the ball The referee does not see the offense and continues play.
Five minutes later, PAOK threatened when Akpom received the ball from the left, shot across and Rouf blocked. In fact, this was the last good moment of the first part in Toumba.
The biceps came in better
Biceps got into the second half better and showed their spirits with Good Morning when Lyratzis threatened a long-range shot in the 47th minute. Five minutes later, PAOK missed a great opportunity to open the scoring with Akpom.
Kurtic, who was “locked up” by Ghent midfield in the first half, received the ball on the right and crossed to Akpom, who headed the ball just over Rouf’s right bar from the penalty spot.
Gent managed to find their way to the net in the 54th minute when Castro Montes fired in from close range, but the goal was correctly ruled out for offside by the visitors’ midfield.
Kurtic gave the solution again
Four minutes later, PAOK and Tsingaras won a foul at a good spot outside the box. Toumba started “cooking” and Kurtic set the ball for execution. The Slovenian took shape, sent him into the goal, the ball hit Koums, changed direction and landed in the net of Gent to 1-0 from PAOK in a furious cheer from Kurtic himself and the friends of the biceps.
It was PAOK who threatened again in the 74th minute of the game, again with Kurtic. The Slovenian gained possession in the penalty area and fired a powerful shot on the left, which went wide of Rouf’s goal.
Until the end of the game, Lutsescu’s players kept Gent’s players out of Paschalakis’ area and won 1-0.
Stadion: Τούμπας
Goal: 58′ Kurtic
Yellow: 45′ Zivkovic, 61′ Vierinia, 79′ Kurtic / 82′ Torunariga, 87′ Monte
PAOK: Paschalakis, Lyratzis, Ingason, Crespo, Vierinia (80′ Siddklay), Tsigaras, Kurtic (80′ Swab), Biseswar (71′ Kantouri), Zivkovic (86′ Murg), Augusto, Akpom (86).
Gandhi: Rouf, Olsen, Engado, Okumu (46′ Torunariga), Samoa, De Sart, Koums, Monte, Ofoe, Hulsager (82′ Tisudali), Depuatr.
