Razvan Lucescu fielded a starting XI with Kotarski between the posts, Ekong and Koulierakis in central defence, Vieirinha and Rafa Soares as full-backs, a midfield duo of Tsingaras and Schwab , and the trio of Taison, Konstantelias and A. Zivkovic behind Brandon up front.

PAOK started the match strongly and found themselves two goals ahead after 12 minutes. Initially, Tsingaras opened the scoring with a nice finish in the sixth minute, while in the 12th minute, Schwab headed in after a corner by A.Zivkovic, in a set-piece play straight from the training ground.

The Belgians tried to react, and they did manage to create some good chances, but the Double-headed Eagle defenders remained solid, with Kotarski making two important saves, meaning that the teams went into the dressing rooms at half-time with PAOK ahead 2-0.

Although there were a lot of changes made at the half-time break, PAOK came out hungry again in the second half and quickly managed to score a third goal.

Konstantelias provided a bit of… magic and plzyed in Andrija Zivkovic , who made it 3-0 with a smart finish.

Lucescu then made further changes, using players in different positions, testing some of the new faces and situations, and this allowed the Belgians to get back into the game, finding two goals to redeuce the deficit to 3-2.

PAOK lineups:

PAOK (1st half): Kotarski, Rafa Soares, Koulierakis, Ekong, Vieirinha, Schwab, Tsingaras, Konstantelias, Taison, A.Zivkovic, Brandon.

PAOK (2nd half): Kotarski (Zivkovics 63′), Rafa (P.Tzimas 62′), Michailidis, Nasberg, Tsaousis, Schwab (Giaxis 62′), Tsingaras (Vrakas 62′), A.Zivkovic (Murg 62′ ), Konstantelias (Ricardo 62′), Narey, Gordeziani (75′ Tzimas).