Panathinaikos got off to a dream start in Athens last week, taking a 2-0 lead within the first 20 minutes. However, La Viola quickly responded. Lucas Beltran and Nicolo Fagioli scored two rapid goals in just four minutes, pulling their team level.

Things could have been even more promising for Raffaele Palladino's side. Unfortunately, they were left in agony as Matias Moreno's late first-half goal was disallowed by VAR. Shortly after the halftime break, Tete scored the decisive goal that gave the hosts the victory in the first leg.

Whichever team advances will be the strong favourite when they face either Celje or Lugano in the quarter-finals. Both Panathinaikos and Fiorentina (La Viola) are highly motivated to progress far in this competition.

Last season, Panathinaikos had to watch their rivals Olympiacos win the Conference League. Ironically, it was Fiorentina that Olympiacos defeated in the final. Fiorentina will be hoping that this season will be their lucky third attempt, as they previously lost to West Ham United in Prague in 2023.

The winners of this tie won't encounter the strong favourites Chelsea until the final. So, it's indeed a favorable path to the final. Nevertheless, both teams would have preferred to avoid facing each other at this stage of the competition.

Fiorentina are now the outsiders to progress following the first-leg defeat, but they are still third among the bookmakers to win the competition, owing to the favourable run they would have should they complete the turnaround here.

Palladino's men handled the league phase with little fuss, taking 13 points from a possible 18 and finishing third, with the draw just being slightly unfortunate to them.

Fiorentina have dealt with adversity many times in this competition though, such as when a spirited Lech Poznan side almost stunned them on their run to the final in 2023, when they also needed a 130th-minute winner from Antonin Barak to beat Basel in the semi-finals.

Last season, Fiorentina also edged narrow encounters against Maccabi Haifa and Club Brugge that threatened at certain points to go against them, so a one-goal deficit will not faze the hosts here.

They battled well at the weekend too despite losing 2-1 at title-challengers Napoli, with Robin Gosens and Cher Ndour both missing late chances that could have salvaged a point.

That was a fifth defeat in six games though, causing a slide to eighth in the Serie A standings, and considering a top-six finish may be required for European qualification, La Viola now find themselves five points adrift.

Tricky tests against Juventus, Atalanta and AC Milan are up next in their following three games after this clash in Europe too, making it imperative Palladino's side progress to keep their season alive.

Panathinaikos stand in their way, and the Greek side have endured their fair share of drama on the continent this season too.

Rui Vitoria's side have already had to beat Lens in qualifying, before taking just 10 points during the league phase, dropping into the playoffs where they faced debutants Vikingur Reykjavik, and made an absolute mess of the tie.

Pana needed a last-minute winner to beat the Icelandic side, after initially trailing 2-0 in the first leg, in a result that has been symptomatic of their form during 2025 so far.

Olympiacos have already knocked them out of the domestic cup and sit 10 points clear of them at the top of the standings, while bottom-of-the-table Lamia stunned them at the end of last month, so the first leg win was something of an outlier.

After serving suspensions in the league at the weekend, Rolando Mandragora and Nicolo Zaniolo will both be available for Fiorentina in this one, with the former set to start.

David de Gea has often been left in reserve during their Conference League journey so far, with Pietro Terracciano utilised as the cup goalkeeper, and despite letting in three last week, he could come back into the side here.

Ndour and Pablo Mari are not in Fiorentina's Europa League squad, but the returning Yacine Adli is, and he returned from injury at the weekend as an unused sub, but there is still no sign of Andrea Colpani or Michael Folorunsho after recent setbacks.

Panathinaikos boss Vitoria named a strong XI for the trip to Atromitos at the weekend, and there will likely be very few changes from that side here.

Former Fiorentina man Bartlomiej Dragowski, who spent six years at the Artemio Franchi, should return to his old stomping ground between the sticks, while fellow Pole Karol Swiderski will battle with Fotis Ioannidis for a start up front.

Tasos Bakasetas, Tin Jedvaj, Erik Palmer-Brown and Facundo Pellistri will all be big misses on the treatment table for the visitors, while the likes of Zeca, Bart Schenkeveld and Dimitrios Limnios are among seven first-team players not registered in this competition.

Fiorentina possible starting lineup:

Terracciano; Dodo, Comuzzo, Ranieri, Gosens; Cataldi, Mandragora, Fagioli; Gudmundsson, Kean, Beltran

Panathinaikos possible starting lineup:

Dragowski; Willian Arao, Ingason, Maksimovic; Kotsiras, Ounahi, Siopis, Mladenovic; Tete, Ioannidis, Djuricic