Dinamo Tbilisi vs PAOK will see the Georgian champion compete against last year’s fourth placed team from the Greek Superleague. While for PAOK the match is a must-win scenario to reach the group stage of the Europa League, Dinamo Tbilisi’s management would consider reaching the group stage of the Europa League as a major accomplishment.
Dinamo hasn’t reached the group stage of a European competition since the 2004-05 season, when the club from the Georgian capital reached the group stage of the UEFA Cup.
Other than that, the club’s European history contains a long list of failed attempts to reach the group stage of the UEFA Champions League. In some ways, reaching this stage has become somewhat of an obsession (more on that here), especially as Dinamo’s participation would bring necessary UEFA co-efficient points and television money to Georgian football.
Indeed Georgians are football-mad, and the population is starving for top class international football—this was especially evident when the German Nationalmannschaft visited the country in the spring of 2015. Hence, for Dinamo to participate in the group stage would be greeted with enthusiasm in Georgia’s capital.
In terms of infrastructure, Dinamo Tbilisi would certainly be ready to host European football. The Dinamo Arena has seen several refurbishments and, with a capacity of almost 55,000, would be a wonderful Champions League venue.
Also, the Georgian businessman Roman Pipia has made significant investments into the club’s infrastructure—the club’s training facility is, by many accounts, considered to be one of the best in Europe.
There was hope that manager, Juraj Jarabek, could guide the club to the UEFA Champions League group stage, but Dinamo Zagreb proved too big of an opponent. Now the club wants to reach the group stage of the Europa League, as participation competition would still increase both the club and the country’s co-efficient points.
Furthermore, Dinamo’s young squad would heavily benefit from taking part in regular European football.
PAOK meanwhile had a somewhat disappointing season, as the ambitions of the club’s Russian owner Ivan Savvidis are not matched by Europa League football. Indeed the owner caused headlines last season when he withdrew his club from the semi-final of the Greek Cup following crowd disturbances.
Savvidis then openly demanded reforms in Greek football, but there is thought that his statements were largely made to distract from his club’s poor form.
Nonetheless, PAOK now want to reach at least the group stage of the Europa League, and there is little doubt that the Greeks are favourites in the match against Dinamo Tbilisi.
Possible Line-ups
Dinamo Tbilisi:
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Scribe – Spicic, Renê, Tchelidze, Lobjanidze – Parunashvili, Tsintsadze – Tchanturishvili, Álvaro, Jighauri – Papunashvili
Manager: Juraj Jarabek
PAOK:
Formation: 4-3-3
Glykos – Leovac, Tzavellas, Crespo, Léo Matos – Shakhov, Cimirot, Chárisis – Rodrigues, Athanasiadis, Djalma
Manager: Vladimir Ivić
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