With a lot of new faces, and with all of the players in good form, faithfully following the coach’s plan, PAOK achieved an emphatic victory over their opponents from Nikaia, playing good football and having substance in their game.

Lucescu threw Felipe Soares into midfield from the start, brought Douglas back into the starting line-up, replaced Koulierakis with Nasberg, and his players took control from the start.

Ionikos, on the other hand, played the first 15 minutes with all their players behind half-way and when Dimitris Spanos chose to push the players forward a little, PAOK punished them with two goals in seven minutes.

In the 27th minute, Rafa Soares combined beautifully with Konstantelias, who crossed for the incoming Filipe Soares to score to make it 1-0 to PAOK. Then, in the 34th minute, Konstantelias stole possession high up the pitch and passed it to Oliveira, who produced an excellent shot from outside the area to double the advantage.

The second half started in the same way as the first ended. Konstantelias and Oliveira threatened without finding the net, but that was not the case for Douglas Augusto. In the 57th minute, Konstantelias released Andrija Zivkovic in behind the home defence with an incredible pass, and then the Serbian winger teed up his Brazilian teammate to score and make it 3-0 to the visitors.

For the remainder of the match, PAOK managed the game perfectly, did not give Ionikos any room to get back into the game, and in the end claimed the three points comfortably. PAOK now turns their attention to the upcoming home clash with Volos, which closes up the first half of this year’s Super League, with the Dobule-headed Eagle chasing another three points before the World Cup break.

Team lineups:

Ionikos (Spanos): Choutesiotis, Mygas, Tsigrinski, Souza, Sakic, Romao (69′ Kanias), Fatiga (83′ Massas), Lovera (69′ Mendoza), Eleftheriadis (69′ Ioannidis), Seba (84′ Tsimpsas), Mantzis

PAOK (Lucescu): Kotarski, Sastre, Ingason, Nasberg, Rafa Soares, Schwab, Augusto (76′ Dantas), A. Živkovic (85′ Quagliata), Filipe Soares (71′ El Kaddouri), Konstantelias (71′ Biseswar), Oliveira (71′ Thomas).