Razvan Lucescu made several changes, giving Bakayoko a start for the first time, while Tissoudali and Michailidis were also in the starting line-up. The Double-headed Eagle started in dominant mood but could not get the goal that they were looking for and paid for it in the worst possible way.

Aris tried to spring a surprise on the counter. The visitors tried to take advantage of the strong winds with a long shot by Moron that Kotarski kept out, before PAOK responded in the 10th minute with a shot by Konstantelias from a good position that missed the target.

As time passed, PAOK took control of the match and started to become more threatening. On 16 minutes Konstantelias got himself in a good shooting position, but the ball was blocked among the sea of bodies in the box. Aris then responded with two shots from Monchou, who first saw the ball bounce off Otto after an attempted shot on goal, and then the same player swung over a free-kick but the ball went wide.

Cuesta then had to be alert to block a shot from Otto , while PAOK then went close when Tissoudali hit the woodwork after following up on an effort from Taison shot. PAOK continued to threaten and until the end of the first half they had two further chances with headers by Michailidis, while Konstantelias also failed to find the net on two occasions, with one of his shots narrowly going wide and another countering and going just wide of Cuesta’s post.

At the start of the second half the fast tempo continued. PAOK tried to pen Aris in their own half, while the visitors looked to exploit teh home defence on the counter-attack. In the 52nd minute Taison threatened first, with his shot going narrowly wide.

In the 56th minute, Kotarski then made a big save from an attempt by Aris with the ball also deflecting off Baba . In the 63rd minute, Aris then managed to take the lead out of nowhere with Manus Garcia executing a shot from a difficult angle.

After the goal, Aris dropped back even further in an en masse defensive effort and PAOK continued to lay siege to the visitors’ goal looking for the equalizing goal. In the 84th minute, PAOK missed a great opportunity to make it 1-1 with Baba hitting the post with Questa beaten.

The hosts did not manage to find the equalizer despite piling on the pressure until the final whistle, leaving the pitch without a point and they must now quickly turn their attention to the next European game against FCSB, where only a win will do.

Team lineups:

PAOK: Kotarski, Otto, Kedziora, Michailidis, Baba, Schwab (Kamara 68′), Bakayoko (Ozdoev 76′), Konstantelias, Taison (Despodov 76′), A. Zivkovic, Tissoudali (Chalov 68′).

Aris: Cuesta, Montoya, Velez (Rose 45′), Brabec, Frydek, Monchu, Cifuentes, Diandy (Saveiro 74′), Garcia (Darida 81′), Sisto (Suleimanov 74′), Moron (Zamora 81′).