PAOK vs Qarabag Europa League Preview

PAOK vs Qarabag Europa League Preview

PAOK vs Qarabag will take place at the Toumba Stadium in Thessaloniki on Thursday. Futbolgrad predicted that the Azeri would finish Group J in fourth place, but going into matchday 4 Qarabag have a real chance to set the stage for an unlikely qualification for the round of 32 in the Europa League.

After defeating PAOK 2-0 on matchday 3 at the Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium in Baku, Qarabag are second in the group with four points. Fiorentina are first in the group with seven points, and the Italians could book a spot to the next round early with a home victory over Slovan Liberec. PAOK, meanwhile, also sit on four points, but are now third as Qarabag holds the tiebreaker.

This means that the game on Thursday could be a mini-final over who will the second place in the group and who will, therefore, advance to the round of 32 of the Europa League. Either club could make a significant step towards the next round with a victory, but a Qarabag victory would make it extremely difficult for PAOK to advance, as the Azeri would hold the tiebreaker, which would mean they would be placed ahead of the Greeks if both finish even on points.

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PAOK are unbeaten at home in four Europa League matches, a statistic that is, however, only encouraging at first glance, as all matches ended in draws—in fact, one of those draws includes a 0-0 tie against Qarabag’s league rivals Gabala. Qarabag, meanwhile, have never won a match away from home in the Europa League.

Also, both clubs have won their recent league matches, as PAOK defeated AEK Athens 1-0 at home, while Qarabag dispatched AZAL 0-1. The match will, therefore, be too close to call; as Qarabag embark on their 2,300 km journey from Baku to Thessaloniki and with everything on the line, a safe bet would be another 0-0 draw between PAOK and an Azeri side—a result that would set the stage nicely for a photo finish over who will advance from Group J.

Futbolgrad’s Prediction: PAOK vs Qarabag 0-0

Possible Line-ups

PAOK:

Formation: 4-3-3

Glykos – Leovac, Crespo, Malezas, Leo Matos – Cañas, Shakhov, Cimirot – Rodrigues, Athanasiadis, Djalma

Qarabag:

Formation: 4-2-3-1

Saranov – Agolli, Gurbanov, Guseynov, Yunuszade – Garayev, Muarem – Michel, Dani Quintana, Richard – Reynaldo

Manager: Gurban Gurbanov

By Manuel Veth –

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