Top spot on the line in Thessaloniki
SUPER LEAGUE - MATCHDAY 25
Rivals PAOK and Olympiacos will do battle on Sunday night in front of a sold-out Toumba Stadium in Thessaloniki to decide top spot heading into the Super League playoffs. AGONAsport’s Athan Stylos previews the highly anticipated derby.
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OVERVIEW
There has been a lot of hype and build-up ahead of the derby between two rivals, PAOK and Olympiacos, who will battle it out for top spot in the Super League on Sunday. PAOK announced on Wednesday that the match was sold out in record time with 22,000 tickets purchased by PAOK fans. Extra security measures will be implemented to ensure that there are no incidents at Toumba.
This will be the first of five meetings between the two clubs over the next two months, with the pair also drawn to face off in the Greek Cup semi-finals as well as two times in the playoffs.
In contrast to Olympiacos, PAOK have had an entire week to focus and prepare for this derby as they failed to qualify for European football in the summer. Abel Ferreira’s men have been inconsistent throughout the season with their performances. The defending champions will be seeking all three points on Sunday night to clinch top spot in the regular season before the playoffs commence.
PAOK were victorious in last season’s fixture at Toumba Stadium, where the champions secured a comfortable 3:1 victory en route to their first league title in 34 years. The last time these two rivals faced off was on matchday 12 of the Super League at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus, where the encounter ended in a 1:1 draw.
Olympiacos’ domestic league results have been impressive as they have yet to face defeat, with a record of 18 wins and six draws. Their recent league form has seen them pick up four wins and one draw from their past five matches. Olympiacos come into the derby following a midweek 0:1 defeat to Arsenal in the Round of 32 in the UEFA Europa League.
The Reds were handed a difficult task of having to play three of their most important fixtures of the season within a span of seven days in two different competitions. Manager Pedro Martins will be hoping that his side will finish the Super League regular season in top spot ahead of the playoffs.
TEAM NEWS
PAOK
PAOK’s squad remains relatively healthy, with only two players unavailable for selection, including centre-back Jose Crespo and Brazilian winger Leo Jaba. A fit and healthy squad will give head coach Abel Ferreira good selection headaches ahead of the crucial derby. Ferreria’s team has had an uninterrupted training week and time to implement their style and tactics for the derby on Sunday. Question marks remain on who will play on the wings with Vieirinha with Omar El Kaddouri, Diego Biseswar, and Lazaros Lamprou, all competing for a place in the starting line-up.
Possible line-up: Zivkovic, Matos, Ingason, Varela, Giannoulis, Maurício, Augusto, Limnios, Vieirinha, Misic, Swiderski.
Olympiacos
Despite reports of Martins expected to change the lineup on Sunday, it looks as if he will keep a similar starting XI to the one that lost to Arsenal on Thursday. One change could see Kostas Fortounis given a place in the starting XI while in-form striker Ahmed Hassan, who has scored three goals in his last three league appearances, could also be given a start.
Possible line-up: Sá; Elabdellaoui, Semedo, Ba, Tsimikas, Guilherme, Bouchalakis, Camara, Valbuena, Masouras, El-Arabi
REFEREE: Tobias Stieler (GER)
German referee Tobias Stieler will take charge of the derby between the top two sides in the Greek Super League. The 38-year-old, who is based in Hamburg, is ranked as a UEFA first category referee. He has been a regular referee in the German Bundesliga since 2012.
Stieler, at this stage of the season last year, refereed Olympiacos’ 4:1 victory over AEK Athens with the exact refereeing team appointed to take charge of PAOK’s clash with Olympiacos on Sunday. Stieler has also refereed Olympiacos games in Europe with the most recent one being against Juventus in a 2:0 loss in 2017 and a 4:1 win over Astana. He was also in charge of Greece’s 1:0 victory against Hungary in the UEFA Nations League in 2018.
For the first time in the Greek Super League, there will be foreign officials as Video Assistant Referees. In the past, Greek officials were appointed as VAR referees.
Referee: Tobias Stieler (GER)
Assistant referees:
Matthias Jollenbeck (GER)
Christian Gittelmann (GER)
