Europe can wait
The 90 minutes against Slovan produced a clear answer to the question of who the better team was, but the result didn ot justify that and has left PAOK’s qualification to the knockout stages of the Europea Conference League still in the balance.
PAOK did not manage to transform their superiority into goals and – just as they did at the Toumba – allowed Slovan the chance to hope that they can be the team that progresses to the knockout stages of the Europa Conference League. However, this bid for European success can wait two weeks. Right now the club has domestic issues to focus on.
Now the absolute number one priority for the PAOK camp is the upcoming match with Aris, since the club are called upon to respond in teh right way after losing in Peristeri. Razvan Lucescu and his players know very well that victory is the only acceptable result, especially when we are talking about a match which already has special significance in Thessaloniki by default.
The Romanian coach will wait for the results of Jose Angel Crespo’s MRI scan to see if he can play a part in the match after the Spaniard limped out of the Slovan game with discomfort in the back of his thigh. Andre Vieirinha, who continued a special individual program, is also a doubt.
On Friday (26.11) PAOK trained in Nea Mesimvria with those who played against Bratislava following a wind-down training program while the rest of the group worked on fitness, ball movement and finishing.
On Saturday (27.11) the Double-headed Eagle will train at 10:30 at their training base.
