PAOK had somewhat of a split personality at the OPAP Arena, conceding a goal that should not have counted and leaving Athens with a defeat. However, the narrow 1-0 scoreline provides only a slight advantage to The Union.

The home team were superior in the first half, and PAOK could not find a way to keep the ball. This meant that the visitors were limited to a rather passive role and AEK enjoyed some good moments with Moukoudi, Lamela and Pereira all failing to find the target, while in the 22nd minute Kotarski saved a penalty from Lamela, with Hadjisafi scoring on the rebound. However, the goal was chalked off as the goalscorer had encroached on the penalty area before the initial penalty was taken.

In the second half, the pattern of the match changed. PAOK regrouped on the pitch and started to become more threatening.

Brandon missed a good opportunity to score at the start of the half, with Brignoli clearing the ball for a corner, but a little later and more specifically in the 53rd minute, Lamela surged into the box and scored to make it 1-0, during a phase of play where there was a clear foul by Pineda on Sastre , with both the referee and VAR not acknowledging the violation.

In the 71st minute, PAOK found the way to the opposing net with Samatta , but the Tanzanian forward was flagged for offside, while Baba also missed from a good position afterwards.

The game ended with PAOK playing with a player less, after Lovren was sent off, during the same phase of play that saw Samatta knocked over on the edge of the AEK area, with the referee and VAR once again not acknowledging the violation.

Team lineups:

AEK: Brignoli, Moukoudi, Rota, Mitoglou, Hadjisafi, Jonsson, Pineda (80′ Mantalos), Pereira (80′ Fernandes), Garcia (65′ Piero), Lamela (73′ Szymanski), Martial.

PAOK: Kotarski, Sastre, Kedziora, Lovren, Baba, Ozdoev, Kamara (56′ Schwab), A. Zivkovic (75′ Despodov), Konstantelias, Tyson (68′ Tissoudali), Brandon (56′ Samatta).