Last season was undoubtedly a dream for Panathinaikos. After securing a European ticket by finishing fourth in the Play Offs, they also won the Greek Cup – their first trophy after eight years.

The club’s management have supported a significant reshaping of the squad, as well as the technical staff, making some targeted moves in transfers and are aiming for a league title of course this season. The first weeks of the season show that they are on the right track, as they have a 100% record after the first five games of the season and are at the top of the standings, and so ambitions are high despite their early elimination from the UEFA Europa Conference League.

Blind trust in Jovanovic

The man responsible for the club’s footballing progress is none other than Ivan Jovanovic. The Serbian coach created a very strong and remarkable team and hopes that with this year’s moves in the transfer market, Panathinaikos will be able to claim a spot in the top four. The 60-year-old coach is the absolute boss in the football department, enjoys the trust of the entire organisation and wants to lead the team to even more titles and successes.

A busy summer

Panathinaikos, with the transfers it has made so far and the money it has spent, has demonstrated that they want to move up a gear. The Greens bought the Slovenian striker, Andraj Sporar for 3.5 million euros from Sporting Lisbon, while they brought in Slovenian international Benjamin Verbic from Dynamo Kyiv. They also covered the gap of the sale of Velez with the Icelandic international defender, Hordur Magnusson. Yuri Lodingin, Christy Ganea and Adam Cherin, as well as Jonas Toro, are also investments for the club’s future.

The squad for the Toumba

The only personnel problem for Ivan Jovanovic is the absence of Kotsiras, who trained individually in his team’s last training session and will not be available, unlike newcomers Enis Cokaj and Alexis Trouillet, who are both included in the squad.

The players selected for the trip to Thessaloniki are:

Brignoli, Lodygin, Xenopoulos, Vaiannidis, Juancar, Ruben Perez, Schenkefeld, Ioannidis, Sporar, Bernard, Ganea, Sanchez, Cerin, Cokaj, Trouillet, Kourbelis, Aitor, Magnusson, Sarlija, Palacios, Pougouras, Verbic, Kampetsis.