The last thing on Aleksandar Stanojević’s mind was the result against KAA Gent. The Serbian tactician decided to try out a 3-4-3 formation, one of the systems he wants his troops to work on this season. Having practiced it for just two sessions, he needed to see how his players adjust to it. He also decided to leave Gojko Cimirot, Diego Biseswar and Stefanos Athanasiadis out of the encounter for decompression reasons.

The Belgians started strongly and attempted to create danger in and around Nikos Melissas’s box, but to no avail. After the initial 20 minutes, PAOK leveled matters and also became adventurous upfront. KAA Gent took the lead in the 31st minute with a header by Matton, who took advantage of some sloppy defending. The “Double-Headed Eagle” wasted a few good opportunities to equalize before half-time.

After the interval, Stanojević made quite a few changes. Róbert Mak and Dorian Lévêque made their unofficial debut for the 2017-18 PAOK team. The Thessaloniki side became more attack-minded with Pedro Henrique and Dimitris Pelkas on the flanks and wasted some opportunities through the Brazilian winger and Mak. As the match unfolded, both teams made more changes, but the Serbian tactician kept his system intact.

Despite PAOK being in control of proceedings, KAA Gent extended their lead against the run of play in the 87th minute. Sylla collected a vertical pass and beat Melissas in their one-on-one.

PAOK line-up:

Melissas, Pouggouras, Varela (68′ Dimitriou), Crespo, Matos (68′ Deligiannidis), Leovac (46′ Lévêque), Shakhov (68′ Kaçe), Cañas (68′ Koulouris), Jairo (46′ Pelkas ), Prijović (46′ Mak), Campos (46′ Henrique).