PAOK seeking revenge in Greek Cup semi-final
 

GREEK FOOTBALL CUP - SEMI FINAL (LEG 1)

PAOK will look for revenge over rivals Olympiacos in the first leg of the Greek Cup semi-finals at the Toumba Stadium on Wednesday night. AGONAsport previews the encounter.

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Both PAOK and Olympiacos will do battle at the Toumba Stadium on Wednesday night in the first leg of the Greek Cup semi-finals. PAOK are aiming to win the Cup for a fourth consecutive season after defeating AEK in the last three finals. 

The rivals will face off a week and a half after Olympiacos silenced the Toumba Stadium with a 0:1 victory in the Super League to secure top spot in the regular season. PAOK also dropped points over the weekend on the road against Xanthi in a 1:1 draw, a result which saw the Thessalonikis fall seven points behind the Erythrolefki.

The reigning Cup holders advanced from the quarter-finals with a convincing 3:0 win on aggregate over Panathinaikos.

Over the weekend, Olympiacos completed the regular Greek Super League season with an unbeaten record (defeated Panetolikos 2:0), which they can now use as confidence booster coming into the Greek Cup semi-finals, Greek Super League playoffs, and UEFA Europa League Round of 16. Olympiacos are coming off a good run of form after defeating PAOK in the league and famously knocking out Arsenal in dramatic fashion in the Europa League.

The Piraeus giants advanced to the semi-finals of the Greek Cup following a 3:2 aggregate victory over Lamia in the quarter-finals last month.

TEAM NEWS

PAOK

Abel Ferreira worked through his tactical approach with the playing group on Tuesday. The Portuguese manager will be without centre-back Fernando Varela after an MRI scan revealed a muscle strain in his right thigh. The injury will keep the defender out of action for up to three weeks. Ferreira will now look for a replacement to play alongside Sverrir Ingason in the heart of defence. After missing the league encounter against Xanthi on the weekend due to injury, Dimitris Pelkas trained normally and is available for selection.

Possible line-up: Paschalakis, Matos, Ingason, Vieirinha, Giannoulis, Mauricio, Augusto, Limnios, El Kaddouri, Misic, Swiderski

Olympiacos

Olympiacos will travel to Thessaloniki without key man Kostas Fortounis after a feud with coach Pedro Martins. Fortounis did apologize for his actions, however, Martins has opted to leave him in Athens for Wednesday’s clash. This will be the fourth game in a row that Fortounis has missed.

Ousseynou Ba is expected to line-up at centre-back for the first leg of the semi-final along with Cisse. Jose Sa’s availability will be a game-time decision after suffering a knock over the weekend against Panetolikos. If the medical team does not give him the green light, 17-year-old Konstantinos Tzolakis will protect the Olympiacos goal in this much-anticipated derby.

Possible line-up: Sa, Elabdellaoui, Ba, Cisse, Tsimikas, Bouchalakis, Camara, Guiherme, Randelovic, Valbuena, El-Arabi

REFEREE: Javier Fernandez (ESP)

Spanish referee, Javier Fernandez, was appointed to officiated Wednesday’s first leg matchup. The Spaniard first became an international referee in 2011 and has been a regular referee in La Liga since 2009. Last month, Fernandez was in charge of the Madrid derby between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid in the Spanish top flight. He appeared in the UEFA Europa League this season in the first leg clash between Rangers and Braga in the Round of 32.

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