On the night, PAOK were the epitome of determined. This was clear to everyone from the eve of the match. The players and coaching staff’s mantra was that they were willing to do anything to make history. And so it proved to be the case.

The Double-headed Eagle side started the match with a metaphorical knife between their teeth and within 26 minutes they managed to build a 2-0 lead. Andrija Zivkovic drew first blood in the 20th minute, largely thanks to the hard work and perseverance of Antonio Colak, who drove into the box and managed to turn a missed opportunity into an assist for his teammate to make it 1-0 from close range.

Six minutes later, and it was The Leader’s time to shine. Vieirinha arrived at the edge of the penalty area and took out the entire visiting defence with some magical control and a stunning long-range strike into the top right corner of the goalkeeper’s net.

PAOK then managed the game from there impressively. Midtjylland boss Bo Henriksen threw all his weapons into battle, and in the last 15 minutes of the match it was the visitors who pushed forward and managed to find a goal which brought the tie level on aggregate. Hoeg initially threatened with Paschalakis saving well. But in his second attempt in the 80th minute, he scored with a header after an assist by Meyer, while two minutes later he also hit the crossbar.

The 2-1 result at teh end of normal time meant that we would have extra time. In the 30 minutes that followed there was only one tean in it, and that was PAOK. The Double-headed Eagle dominated the extra period of play, missed some good opportunities to win the contest before a looming penalty shootout with Colak guilty of wasting the best two chances. However, no goal was forthcoming and the game did finally go to penalties to decide the winner.

Paschalakis took his place between the post for the first time in his career on such an occasion. And he saved the very first spot-kick. His teammates also did everything right, with Colak, Sidcley, Schwab, Mitrita and Kurtic all converting their penalties to ensure victory!

In the end PAOK managed to overturn the first-;eg deficit and earn the coveted qualification, and they are now waiting to find out who their opponents will be in Friday’s draw.

Team lineups:

PAOK (Lucescu): Paschalakis, Lyratzis, Ingason, Crespo, Vieirinha (71′ Sidcley), Tsingaras (90′ Soares), Kurtic, A. Zivkovic (104′ Schwab), Augusto (71′ El Kaddouri), Biseswar (71′ Mitrita), Colak.

Midtjylland (Henriksen): Olafsson, Anderson, Thychosen, Sviatchenko, Juninho (46′ Hoegh), Paulinho (46′ Dyhr), Isaacsen (99′ Charles), Onyedika, Evander, Sisto (46′ Meyer), Brumado (73′ Lind).