PAOK-Club Brugge is a match valid for the return leg of the Conference League quarterfinals and is played on Thursday at 9 pm: live TV, probable formations, predictions.
In Belgium, there was only one team on the field in the first leg match: Club Brugge. Nicky Hayen’s Nerazzurri made the most of their greater technical content compared to the Greeks of PAOK, whose only goal was to limit the damage as much as possible and then play it all in the bowl of the “Toumba,” already decisive in the previous round against Dinamo Zagreb.
Then, too, Razvan Lucescu’s bianconeri – Mircea’s son – seemed doomed after the first 90 minutes: the 2-0 loss in Croatia sounded like a sentence, yet a week later the roles were reversed. PAOK went from prey to predator, scrambling the higher-ranked Croatians 5-1. The feat, on Belgian soil, was precisely that of conceding only one goal despite an all too passive attitude. In the post-match interview, in fact, the Club Brugge coach emphasized the numerous goals his men gobbled up. Mistakes that Vanaken and his teammates might discount in the return leg. Especially the penalty missed by Brazilian Igor Thiago ten minutes from the end and neutralized by goalkeeper Kotarski weighed like a boulder.
Club Brugge, on the other hand, went wild at the weekend, overwhelming Antwerp 3-0 in the league and keeping pace with the two teams ahead of them in the standings, Anderlecht and Union Saint-Gilloise. PAOK, on the other hand, rested over the weekend thanks to the Greek Football Federation’s decision to postpone its challenge with Olympiacos. The Bianconeri are also third at home but only two lengths behind leading AEK Athens.
The prediction
The advantage with which Club Brugge travels to Greece is by no means reassuring, since it will also have to do without three starters such as Igor Thiago, De Cuyper and Mechele, all three of whom are disqualified. PAOK’s victory, in our opinion, has to be taken into account: the HCL players, in front of their very noisy crowd, are transformed.
The probable lineups of PAOK-Club Brugge
PAOK (4-2-3-1): Kotarski; Jonny, Kedziora, Koulierakis, Baba; Meité, Schwab; Zivkovic, Konstantellias, Despodov; Brandon.
CLUB BRUGGE (4-3-3): Jackers; Sabbe, Ordonez, Mechele, Meijer; Vanaken, Onyedika, Vetlesen; Skoras, Rodrigues, Nusa.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-1
