PAOK held by Ionikos
It is commonly accepted that league matches coming on the back of European nights – especially successful ones – hide many pitfalls. And PAOK suffered in such a case on Sunday (27.02) night as they dropped pointrs at the Toumba with Ionikos holding the hosts to a 1-1 draw on Matchday 25 of the 2021-22 Super League Interwetten.
Razvan Lucescu changed around most of the team in comparison to the match against Midtjylland, with Paschalakis, Biseswar and Colak the only three players starting in the second match in a row.
PAOK started the matcgh aggressively and tried to take the lead from the first seconds, but they did not have the luck on their side. Colak hit the crossbar, Biseswar saw his effort from the rebound blocked, while Mitrita did exactly the same on the second rebound.
Ionikos, for their part, came to play football at the Toumba, with an attack-minded offensive line. They responded with Mantzis falling short of being able to beat Paschalakis from a good position.
The game had an excellent pace and tempo, with many opportunities for both sides. Paschalakis saved from Cabral in the 14th minute, while Sastre and Biseswar both failed to find the target from promising positions.
In the 31st minute, PAOK took the lead. Mygas fouled Mihaj inside the penalty area and Schwab stepped up to slot home the spot-kick from 12 yards. And that’s how it stayed up to half-time, with Paschalakis making a great save to deny a shot from Mygas in the 39th minute.
In the second half, Ionikos changed their tactics, putting more players behind the ball and attempted to catch PAOK out on hte break. PAOK could not find a way to penetrate the visitors’ goal, and sure enough after 58 minutes the visitors’ gameplan paid off as they found the equalizer through Thuram.
PAOK kept the ball well after that setback, and battled until the end to try and get a winning goal. But, as Razvan Lucescu commented, the lack of a clear head in the final ball let the team down on too many occasions and deprived them of the opportunity to score and get the three points.
The marathon of consecutive games continues, however. On Wednesday (02.03) PAOK face AEK at the OAKA in a previously postponed game.
Team lineups:
PAOK (Lucescu): Paschalakis, Sastre, Mihaj, Michailidis, Sidcley (76′ Vieirinha), Schwab, Soares (62′ Tsingaras), Jaba (82′ Koutsias), Biseswar (62′ El Kaddouri), Mitrita, Colak.
Ionikos (Spanos): Choutesiotis, Mygas, Sanchez (46′ Thuram), Chygrynsky, Romao, Valeriano, Dalcio, Aosman (89′ Vafeas), Lenis, Cabral (87′ Valente), Mantzis (46′ Platellas.
