Preview:FCSB vs PAOK, Europa League Knockout Round playoffs,2nd Leg
- FlashFootball 2025/02/19 06:04
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Europa League | Knockout Round Playoffs | 2nd Leg
Feb 20, 2025 at 5.45pm UK
Arena Nationala
FCSB vs PAOK
(agg: 2-1)
Match preview
There was little to separate Cypriot Elias Charalambous' FCSB and Romanian Razvan Lucescu's PAOK in this clash of the Romanian and Greek giants.
After Ally Samatta's early goal in Salonika, PAOK looked in control and could have gone further ahead before Taison's red card on the stroke of half-time.
That turned the game on its head and FCSB ran out 2-1 winners, making them favourites to progress to the last 16.
FCSB may have finished the league phase in 11th place, 11 places above PAOK, but it was the Greeks who were favourites to go through before the first leg and the visitors will be confident they can do to them what the Romanians did to them a week ago.
That will be a tall order, however, given FCSB's recent form, which has seen them win three in a row and go five games unbeaten, including a 2-0 win over Gloria Buzau at the weekend.
Manchester United are the only team to have beaten Charalambous' men in eight games since the winter break, keeping them top of Romanian Liga I, and they will now be looking to win a European knockout tie for the first time since 2013, when they knocked Ajax out of the competition on penalties.
Victory in the second leg would also see FCSB win both legs of a European knockout tie for the first time since the 2005-06 UEFA Cup, when they eliminated Valerenga on aggregate en route to the semi-finals.
The home fans will be dreaming of a similar achievement in this season's wide-open Europa League, but that run from almost two decades ago brings back nightmares of squandering a 3-0 aggregate lead 30 minutes into the second leg against Middlesbrough.
History favours the hosts ahead of the return leg, however, with FCSB having lost to Greek opposition only once in five previous meetings - a 6-3 defeat at the hands of Panathinaikos in 1998.
This is bad news for PAOK, who have an abysmal record against Romanian clubs, winning just one of five meetings, and that was against Dinamo Bucharest in the first round of the 1970-71 FA Cup.
Having also lost away to Real Sociedad on the eighth day of the league phase, PAOK could now suffer three successive defeats in Europe for the first time in six years, and that is a very real possibility given that they have lost five of their last six away from home.
Although they reached the quarter-finals of the Conference League in 2022 and 2024, they have never reached the last 16 of the UEFA Cup/Europa League, so it was important for them to inspire confidence ahead of a potentially historic encounter.
Lucescu's men did just that with a 7-0 thrashing of Lamia at the weekend, but eight points adrift of leaders Olympiacos means the title remains a distant dream, making European football all the more important.
Recent Performance
FCSB Europa League form:WDDWLW
FCSB form (all competitions):LDDWWW
PAOK Europa League form:LWWWLL
PAOK form (all competitions):WLLWLW
Team News
Charalambous rested almost the entire FCSB side for the trip to Gloria Buzau at the weekend, keeping most of his key first-team players in reserve for the return leg.
Gheorghita played a big part in getting FCSB back into the game last week and, although he started at the weekend, he could do so again with Daniel Birligea suspended following his booking in Greece.
Risto Radunovic was suspended at the weekend and will be back, but Octavian Popescu, Mihai Lixandru, Darius Olaru, Miha Toma and William Baeten are all out injured for the hosts.
Taison is suspended for PAOK following his dismissal in the first leg, and with seven players ineligible to play in Europe, Lucescu's options are limited.
The injured Dejan Lovren, as well as Tiemoue Bakayoko, Jiri Pavlenka, Vieirinha, Sergio Pena, Mateusz Wieteska and Jonathan Gomez, will all be unavailable as PAOK are limited in the number of changes they can make to their Europa League squad ahead of the play-offs.
However, some of PAOK's regulars proved their worth at the weekend as they won 7-0 with a slightly rotated side, but the star man was regular Giannis Konstantelias, who scored a hat-trick in the space of an hour.
Possible starting lineup
FCSB possible starting lineup:
Tarnovanu; Cretu, Dawa, M Popescu, Radunovic; Chiriches, Sut; Gheorghita, Cisotti, Tanase; Stefanescu
PAOK possible starting lineup:
Tsiftsis; Jonny, Kedziora, Michailidis, Baba Rahman; Meite, Schwab; Pelkas, Konstantelias, Zivkovic; Samatta
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