paokarag4

I believe it was Mavropanos who stretched to cut out the pass but just couldn't quite get a boot to it.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhh don't say that! Don't you know it's all one players fault? One guy is the only reason Greece hasn't stormed into Euro '16, '20 and World Cups '18 and '22! Don't give us truths that we don't want to hear! We are a top 15 nation, the reason for failures is on one player, get with the program re Jimmy

Are we? I thought I read that we can only make changes if we sign players from Russia or Ukraine. If the case is we can make the 2 changes regardless, then he may do Varela in for some insurance incase disaster strikes. Wouldn't be surprised to see Jaba come in maybe for Soares? As always Lucescu does not rush any signing into the team, we'll see more of Soares from next season. So unlikely he'll get any minutes in Europe especially when you consider we already have Kurtic, Tsingaras, Schwab, Augusto (who can go back to his natural position) and even El Kaddouri who can play deeper if needed.

Does anyone have footage of it? That image above isn't working for me.

Since when is @pash a PAOK reporter?

Looks like Masouras and Vrousai are out of the friendlies, Xatzigiovannis has been called up as a replacement. https://www.novasports.gr/sport/podosfairo/event/nations-league/article/12353866/ethniki-klithike-o-xatzigiovanis/

Looks like we are asking the Superleague to postpone the Olympiakos match (April 10) which falls between both games against Marseille so we can get maximum rest. Apparently there is a rule which states if a Greek team is playing in a quarter or semi final of a European competition, the league must accept the request to postpone any domestic match. So seems we will be going in fresh for that 2nd leg. The issue then becomes where the hell do all these games get played? Remembering that we still have the Cup semi-finals to play.

Seems he's in good scoring form, scored the winner for Fener against the 2nd place Konyaspor to win 2-1. The win puts Fener within 2 points of Konyaspor and a spot in the Champions League qualifiers.

Agree fantastic result especially coming off a big European night. Our record over AEK since that night in 2018 is really something to behold, one loss in around 15ish games? Including the cup of course. The team is really starting to have that trademark Lucescu toughness about them, hard to beat. Even when we aren't playing well we are disciplined and hard to break down. Able to find a goal even during tricky games, it's a fantastic trait and necessary for a title challenge. Next season we are going to be up to our ears in the title race.

Absolutely for a Greek club, over 7 million Euros in revenue is a fantastic outcome. In terms of the draw I vote Slavia Prague, not only do they appear to be one of the more 'beatable' opponents on paper but considering they also had two players sent off today they will be coming into the first leg a touch weaker. Anyway every team left has made it to a quarter final so it will be tricky regardless. Bodo-Glimpt battered Roma 6-1 in the group stage and have taken out Celtic comfortably and now AZ en route to the this stage. No easy draw just amazing to be here!

LEEEETTTTTTTTTTS f***ing GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

These fans are tripping the mans head is busted open, you'll get your stoppage time. Now I'm tripping Taylor coming on.... I guess for pace on the counter, could work let's see

Gent's center backs are so poor anytime we've applied pressure across both legs they look vulnerable. It's just a shame we can't create consistently.

Crespo must be injured, not good. Mihaj is on.

We'll need to score another because I agree, unless we somehow find a way to keep the ball for longer spells it seems inevitable that Gent will score another. Mitrita to come on and hopefully give us something on the counter, we haven't really been able to execute any counters properly. Biseswar has been a bit lucky just slipping or mis-controlling balls at key points.

Michailidis unfortunately suffered a serious knee injury over the weekend and will be out until October/November. As for Lyratzis and Tsingaras it seems odd he didn't select them, although there is some speculation that he left them out as the under 21's have important qualifiers. Kyriakopoulos deserves a call-up, become a locked in starter at Sassuolo this season. He's having a terrific year. Interesting to see only one traditional right-back in the squad, I wonder if he's considering using Vrousai at right back potentially given he did recently have a decent game for Olympiakos there and has played there in the past. Also don't quote me but I think Stafylidis may have spent some of this season playing right back for Bochum, so that maybe another option Poyet is considering. Overall there is nothing inspiring about those call-ups, I was looking forward to Lyratzis/Tsingaras. A few strange options as per every ethinki squad but let's see what Poyet's game plan and tactics look like.

Bakasetas 30 appearances in Europe and Turkish League, 8 goals and 8 assists for the runaway league leaders (they are 15 points clear at the top) Ninis 20 appearances in league and cup for 1 goal and 2 assists. Playing for Volos who aren't a top 6 team in Greece and comfortably missed qualifying for the playoffs. So statistically there is no contest. Bakasetas turned down a move to a top 4 Portuguese team in January (Sporting Lisbon) Ninis isn't a locked in starter for a mid-table team, so no offer to a bigger league/club is on the cards. So maybe that's what he's basing it on.... Either all of the footballing landscape in Europe has no idea or maybe you are slightly off the mark with Ninis. Honestly this is so exhausting, you fail to give any evidence as to why Ninis is better but challenge people to do the same. Tell me why Ninis is deserving of a call-up? Do you actually watch him play? Or do you watch highlights of him when he was decent and think he must be the same player? Does his stats back it up?

Vlachodimos keeps a clean sheet in the 2nd leg of the round of 16 tie against Ajax, Benfica win the match 0-1 and are through to the quarter finals. In what has been a disappointing domestic campaign for Benfica it's a great effort to reach the quarter finals of the Champions League.

Real shame for the kid, hopefully he has a speedy recovery and we can see him early enough next season. That leaves us with 3 center backs for the rest of the season, I'm guessing they won't be recalling Varela so probably someone from the 'B' team or from the under 20's to be our 4th choice.

I perceived it as he didn't want to be subbed and he was expressing his frustration, as has happened in the past. But it seems after reading reports from people who were at the game he was asking to be subbed earlier to avoid the card and that's why he was gesturing so much. The man himself claims he threw the ball away to stop a quick-throw in but I'm not sure I believe that. Whatever his motivation it was a dumb way to get booked, as was Zivkovic's.

Great result and a solid performance, despite starting off quite nervy we settled into the match and were the better team for 80+ minutes. We deserved a 2nd goal on the weight of play, although clear cut chances were at premium for both teams. On Kurtic he is 33 and isn't going to change now but he really needs to address his carry on when he gets subbed off it isn't the first time. I dare say he we being subbed to protect him from a yellow which would see him banned from the return leg but because he was so annoyed at being taken off he chose to throw the ball away and get himself booked anyway. Now we have to go into arguably our biggest match of the season without our top scorer because he doesn't like being subbed? Pretty poor imo Paschalakis really isn't cut out to do it in European football, saved by the linesman flag and a botched clearance that luckily fell into the lap of Crespo. He's been good for a lot of this season but some of his biggest howlers seem to happen in European games for whatever reason. Otherwise everyone else was quite good, Lyratzis and Tsingaras didn't look overrawed at all. Lyratzis especially very calm when defending and just seems to pop up at the key moment to make a block or a clearance. I also thought Vieirinha was very good.

Goes without saying this is massive. With away goals no longer a rule, as long we avoid a loss here we will be in good shape heading into the 2nd leg. Obviously a win is ideal, but I wouldn't be disheartened with a draw. I expect an arm wrestle, we know Lucescu likes to keep it tight and not give too much away especially early on. Only question in terms of the starting XI is who will start on the left wing, probably will be Biseswar considering Mitrita only began training yesterday. Otherwise expect to see: Paschalakis, Lyratzis, Ingason, Crespo, Vieirinha, Kurtic, Tsingaras, Augusto, A.Zivkovic and Akpom.

I've half given up following the stadium news as it really has dragged on, but as far as I can tell we've hit snags with the government over some funding(this may have been resolved) as well as issues with where we are going to play while the stadium is being built. There has been lots of flip flopping over the contract to play at the Kaftanzoglio. So a combination of those things has slowed everything right down unfortunately.

Spanoulis has retired from playing all together, I believe he recently coached a youth team of some sort.

When he does play he takes out his frustration on his injury prone genes on fit and healthy opponents