Razvan Lucescu’s players took control of the match from the kick-off, as was expected, and they tried to put the contest to bed as early as possible. The first goal, of course, came from a player from Larissa, but thankfully it was for PAOK as Gotzamanidis accidentally headed the ball into his own team’s net when challenging Swiderski as both men tried to reach a cross from A.Zivkovic .

As long as the score was 1-0 and PAOK were pushing high up the pitch to try and score a second goal, the visitors managed to find space to counter-attack and they began to look dangerous. Larissa equalized through Ogkboe, who beat Z.Zivkovic with a header. The goal changed the atmosphere, as at that point PAOK needed to score to qualify and Larissa continued to sit back adn wait for their chance to pounce on the break.

A chance came the visitors’ way through danger man Ogkboe, who came close to scoring a second goal with an impressive chip over Z.Zivkovic, but fortunately for PAOK the ball struck the crossbar and bounced to safety. After that, Chuba Akpom came off the bench to seal the qualification for the home sode. The Englishman vindicated his introduction to the match and his recent good form. First he put PAOK back in front at 2-1 with a dicing header in the 82nd minute, and then he put the seal on the win with an impressive right-footed shot from outside the penalty area which made it 3-1 – PAOK’s last goal of 2021.

Team limeups:

PAOK: Z.Zivkovic, Vieirinha (84′ Sidclry), Michailidis, Ingason, Lyratzis, Tsingaras (77′ Akpom), Schwab (67′ Kurtic), Murg (67′ Biseswar), Augusto, A. Zivkovic, Swiderski.

Larissa: Souloukos, Aboud, Theologou, Gotzamanidis (86′ Tahar), Papageorgiou, Garoufalias (46′ Acuna), Iliadis, Colombino, Glynos (86′ Mavrias), Badimbanga (90′ Costa), Ogkboe.