Panathinaikos vs Paksi SE – News and Probable Lineups

Panathinaikos aims to secure their advancement in the next stage of the Conference League qualifiers as they face Paksi SE at the Apostolos Nikolaidis on Thursday.

The hosts head into this second leg with a significant advantage having won the first leg of this qualifying tie 2-1.

Match overview

Panathinaikos has a history of competing in Europe, having appeared in the Champions League seven times from 2000-01 to 2010-11, but in recent years, they’ve often found themselves in the Europa League and Conference League.

Last season, Panathinaikos made it to the last 16 of the Europa League after exiting the Champions League qualifiers in the second round.

However, finishing fourth in the Greek Super League has led them to the Conference League qualifiers this season.

Entering a new chapter under head coach Jacob Neestrup, who took over from Rafael Benitez during the summer, the team is eager to build on last week’s first leg victory.

During that match, Gabor Vas netted an own goal early on, followed by Santino Andino adding a second before Daniel Bode responded for Paksi.

Paksi SE, on the other hand, seeks to achieve European football for the first time this season after stumbling in previous years’ Europa League and Conference League qualifiers.

This will mark their sixth campaign of European qualifying, and they came the closest last season when they reached the final qualifying round of the Conference League before falling to Polissya Zhytomyr.

Gyorgy Bognar’s team will be determined to recover from their first leg loss and come into this match following an impressive 4-2 victory against Ferencvaros in the Nemzeti Bajnoksag on Sunday.

Milan Peto and Jozsef Szalai each scored twice as Paksi recovered from behind two times against the most successful Hungarian club, who ended last season in second place in the league.

Team News

Panathinaikos might be without Cyriel Dessers and Erik Palmer Brown due to injuries.

This summer, the Greek side has welcomed several new signings, with Anass Zaroury, Etienne Camara, Triantafyllos Tsapras, Inaki Pena, and Stefan de Vrij all likely to feature in the starting XI.

Paksi SE is expected to make at least two changes as Szalai and Zsolt Haraszti are both nursing injuries sustained during the match against Ferencvaros.

Hence, Bode and Janos Hahn are anticipated to step into the starting lineup.

Panathinaikos probable starting XI:

There isn’t; Tsapras, Touba, De Vrij, Kyriakopoulos; Gnezda, Camara; Zaroury, Jagusic, Andino; Aunt

Paksi SE probable starting XI:

Kovacsik; Gyorfi, Vas, Szkeszardi, Vecsei, Zeke; Peto, Papp; Horvath, Hahn; Bode

Given their stronger European experience and the significant improvements made in their squad during the transfer window, Panathinaikos is favored to win and advance to the third qualifying round.