PAOK Face European Date with Destiny

PAOK might be flying high in the Super League standings, but they’re at serious risk of elimination from the inaugural Europa Conference League.

European competition has often been kind to the club; they’re a regular amongst the Europa League group stages and have often progressed to the round of 32, although never beyond. They have featured in the Champions League in the past, but the 2021/22 season has a new challenge: the Europa Conference League.

It’s a new tournament, bringing the complement of major European competitions back to three. Once upon a time, we had the European Cup, UEFA Cup and Cup Winner’s Cup, but the rejigged Champions League and Europa League format put paid to that. The Conference League now gets us back to three, and the intention is to give more football to smaller clubs. A guide to the Europa Conference League by Bwin Sports explains how there is no direct qualification to the group stages. Instead, it is intended for teams who won their domestic league but have been eliminated from one of the other competitions or those who qualified for European competition via a domestic cup or a high league placing. That makes it an interesting mix which PAOK should have done well in.

That hasn’t exactly been the case, and with two-game days left, qualification for the knockout stage hangs in the balance. PAOK won the Greek Cup last season and were in the Europa League group stage too. However, they’re one game away from not qualifying for the next round of the third tournament, which would be a poor return for their endeavours.

They have been grouped with Lincoln Red Imps of Gibraltar, the whipping boys of the tournament, and Copenhagen and Slovan Bratislava. The latter were Slovakian champions last season, whilst Copenhagen finished third in the Danish league. The draw could have been kinder to Răzvan Lucescu’s team, who now face a matchday five that could define their European ambitions.

They’re currently tied with Bratislava on seven points, whilst Copenhagen have nine. The Danes will qualify for the next round with a win against Lincoln Red Imps in game five, which is almost certain. That means only second place is up for grabs, with PAOK heading to Slovakia on November 25, looking for at least a point. If they were to fall to a defeat, their hosts need only a point from their final game against Copenhagen in Denmark and could even suffer defeat if the goal difference remained favourable.

The two sides drew 1-1 in their earlier meeting; Chuba Akpom gave the hosts the lead before Andre Green pulled a goal back, and despite 64% possession and almost twice as many shots on goal, PAOK couldn’t force a winner. That result would be fine in the second leg; Lincoln Red Imps visit Greece on December 9 and should yield three points; if the hosts can add a couple of goals, they can also overturn their rivals superior goal difference. However, none of that matters if they don’t get the result they want in Slovakia.

Can they do it? There’s no reason why not, but they have already choked under pressure. Ekathimerini explains how they led Copenhagen by one goal to nil at home earlier this month but conceded two despite having better possession and more shots on goal. They’re going to have to ensure they can make their dominant football count in Slovakia.

If they do, then they’ll give themselves every chance of reaching the knockout stages of the new competition and beyond that, who knows?

Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thessalonioki,_Stadium_of_PAOK_-_panoramio.jpg