Pregame
Kick Off
Half Time
Goals
Penalty
Substitution
Corners
Offside
Opportunity
Barshot
Comment
Yellow Card
Second Yellow Card
Red card
Missed Penalty
Mission completed
With confidence high after last week’s 2-1 win in the first leg, the Double-headed Eagle came out on the pitch on home soil determined to quickly extinguish any hopes of a fightback from the visitors and lock up qualification. It took them just 23 minutes to do it.
Lucescu’s men began fiercely and won all the major duels, with Vieirinha firing a warning shot with an effort which hit the post, before finally Taison gave the hosts the lead in the 17th minute. The Brazilian cleverly scored with a free-kick from a wide position to break the deadlock.
Six minutes later, Schwab headed down to Brandon and the latter scored to make it 2-0 with an improbable reverse shot to effectively end the tie as a contest. The Scots showed that they did not have the mental reserves to get back into the game, and they even started resorting to tough marking and tackling to stop the momentum of their opponents.
PAOK started the second half strongly, just as they did the first, and they found a goal via their first opportunity. In the 57th minute, Kotarski (!) with an incredible long pass sent A.Zivkovic clean through on goal behind the opposition’s defense, and the Serb passed to Konstantelias , who scored at the second attempt to make it 3-0.
The excellent Taison saved one more excellent piece of play before being replaced to catch his breath. In the 71st minute, the Brazilian won possession deep in his own half to start a counter-attacking move which he then finished after covnerting an assist from Brandon to round off the scoring at 4-0.
The final whistle triggered wild celebrations, with the players and the crowd becoming one and celebrating with all their heart the achievement of the team’s first goal of the season!
PAOK now await to learn who their opponents will be in the group stage of the 2023-24 UEFA Europa Conference League in Friday’s draw (01.09, 15:00).
Team lineups:
PAOK: Kotarski, Vieirinha (Kedziora 64′), Ekong, Koulierakis, Baba, Tsingaras (Ozdoev 64′), Schwab, A.Zivkovic (Vrakas 82′), Taison (Murg 75′), Konstantelias, Brandon (Tzimas 74′) .
Hearts: Clarke, Rawls, Sibic, Kent, Atkinson, Kingsley (Denholm 66′), Cochrane, Boyce (Tagawa 59′), Devlin, Vargas, Shankland (Lowry 66′).
{{timelineDisplay(comment)}}
:
{{comment.extra_data.media.caption}}
{{timelineDisplay(comment)}}
: