PAOK's journey to the conference has ended, as the dream of the semi-finals remains… a dream! Decfalos was less than adequate for the occasion, and the amazing Brugge showed their superiority in Tomba as well, winning 2-0 and with two victories they were in the '4' where they would face Fiorentina! The audience went wild at the end.
Qualifying for the fourth tier of the European League was a dream and it is coming.. PAOK “fell” against a team in every sense of the word, Club Brugge, which proved in the quarter-final matches that it was also the best team.
In the “hot” Tomba, the Belgians gave football lessons, eclipsing the “black and white” and rightfully in the semi-finals of the competition.
As of tonight, the only thing Two-Headed can hold down is the terrible performance of his scientist, who never stops singing and giving lessons on proper behavior. Perhaps the position of PAOK fans was a “thank you” to his team for the European journey this year, which began at the end of last July and reached the quarter-finals.
PAOK makes five changes
Razvan Lucescu made five changes to the starting lineup after his team's defeat in Belgium a week ago. More specifically, he gave home shirts to Otto (right-back), Stefan Schaub (inside midfielder), Kirill Despodov (right winger), Thomas Morg (midfielder) and Brandon Thomas (forward), in an attempt to refresh his squad. And get stuff from specific footballers.
Kotarski was under the leaflets. Otto on the right side of the defence, Bamba on the left and Kenziora-Kolerakis the central duo. Mete and Schaub formed the inside midfielders in a 4-2-3-1 'two-header' formation, with Despodov, Morg and Tyson forming the attacking line with Brandon Thomas.
With the changes and Club Brugge
For their part, the guests lined up, as expected, with four different faces in the lineup. Brugge went to Toumba Stadium with a score of 4-3-3. The Jackers were at home, Sapp would play on the right flank, but the back 3/4 was different. Ordonez is the main goalkeeper with defensive midfielder Ender Ballada alongside him in place of the suspended Micheli. Left-back De Kuiper, who was replaced by Mayer, also completed the cards.
The position was the same as the first match. Auintica is in sixth position, with Vettelsen and captain Vanaken as the midfielders. In attack, Skouras remained on the right flank, and Zotgla, who was in the first match as a left winger, stepped up in place of the suspended Thiago. Finally, 19-year-old Antonio Nosa started in place of Zutgla on the left wing.
Belgian absolutism
PAOK entered the match with a clear desire to press high and play football to make things difficult for the Belgians, who responded easily in the first minutes to the pressure and the hellish atmosphere created by the 27,000 fans of “Dikefalos”.
The first big opportunity came in the 12th minute for the visitors, as the top scorer in the first leg, Hugo Vettelsen, missed this time from a penalty kick. Brugge were very good on the pitch, they knew what they wanted and what they had to do, in fact they were the ones who threatened again in the 18th minute to bring down Skouras.
As long as Mete and Schaub were absent from the match, PAOK could not hope to break the pressure of the Belgians, who were the best team ever in the first half hour of the match. Onentika and Vanakin did what they wanted in midfield.
The expected score was 0-1 for Jutgla in the 33rd minute based on the match picture. Brugge had laid the groundwork to qualify for the semi-finals, as PAOK had a mountain to climb. The Belgians scored the second goal with a header by Gutgla in the 41st minute, amid turmoil between the “white and black”. This storm was confirmed with a score of 0-2 in stoppage time of the first half, scored again by the Spanish Ferran Gutgla!
Only the runway was “playing” but it was not enough…
“The Double-Headed” did not gain half the lead in the first 45 minutes. The second half was looking for a miracle, as Lucescu brought on Samatta and Zivkovic in an attempt to change his team's poor image. Tyson came to the column instead of Morg without changing anything, despite the push that the stands tried to provide. People were just “playing” ball, but that wasn't enough…
PAOK's first good moment in the match came through Despodov in the 51st minute, but that did not discourage the Belgians, who continued to be the best team on the field and dominated, with the “black and white” remaining in a closed circle, without the slightest inspiration. He has no answers to… Dominant football in Bruges.
best playerSpaniard Ferran Gutgla made the difference with the two goals he scored.
In his stature: Satellite football from Brugge captain Hans Vanakken, but also Rafael Onentica.
The weak link: Swalihu Mete was on another field during the 56 minutes he played in the match.
Fatal error: Lucescu made a mistake using Brandon Thomas, but it was not just the Spanish striker who could not live up to the demands of such an important match.
Stragali: Italian David Massa did not make the big mistake. The VAR showed that Brugge's second goal was normal, while in the Despodov phase that initially showed a penalty kick, the VAR came to indicate that the Bulgarian was in an offside position. For centimeters, it was counted from 0-2, for centimeters there was no penalty in Despodov's reversal.
Newspaper cabinetBad lies. PAOK underestimated Brugge enough. The result of the first match, 1-0, turned out to be fake based on the general image of the two teams. The Belgians, despite the absences, were superior and deservedly secured a ticket to qualify for the semi-finals of the European Conference League. At 90 minutes, 'the double-header' is a matter of creating a chance to take the lead.
PAOK (Razvan Lucescu): Kotarski, Otto, Kenziora, Koulerakis, Baba, Schwab, Mete (56' Ozdoev), Despodov (71' Konstantinas), Morg (46' A. Zivkovic), Tyson, Thomas (46' Samata).
Club Brugge (Nicky Hain): Jakers, Sampe, Ordonez-Pallada, Oyinendika, Vittelssen (83' Zieglernagel), Vanaken, Skouras (87' Talbi), Zotgla, Nosa (76' Ontoi).
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