Panathinaikos are set to host Lens at the Olympiako Stadio Spyros Louis on Thursday evening in the second leg of their Europa Conference League playoff round tie.
The hosts will have to overcome a one-goal deficit if they are to qualify for the league phase after a 2-1 defeat to Lens in France last week.
Match preview
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Following one fifth-placed and two fourth-placed finishes between 2019 and 2022 in the Greek Super League, Panathinaikos enjoyed a fantastic pre-split campaign in 2022-23.
The Greens had placed top of the division after 26 matches with 61 points, holding a two-point lead over AEK Athens with 10 games to play in the post-split season, but Panathinaikos were unable to hold their lead as they fell to second place, finishing five points behind the champions AEK.
Having been denied their first Super League title since 2009-10, Panathinaikos would have been aiming to go one step further and secure their status as champions in 2023-24.
However, Panathinaikos had a disappointing campaign, finishing fourth in the pre-split campaign with 56 points and retaining fourth in the post-split season, ending with 72 points and eight behind the champions PAOK.
Finishing fourth gave the Greens an opportunity to qualify for the Europa League this year, offering them a chance to reach the group stage of a European competition for two consecutive seasons for the first time since 2009-10 and 2010-11.
They started their 2024-25 campaign with a comfortable 6-1 aggregate victory against Botev Plovdiv in the second qualifying round of the Europa League, followed by a dramatic 13-12 penalty defeat to Ajax in the third round after a 1-1 draw on aggregate, which saw Tete equalise in the 89th minute of the second leg for the Greens.
Diego Alonso's men followed that with an underwhelming 1-0 defeat to Asteras Aktor in the opening match of the Greek Super League term, and suffered a 2-1 defeat to Lens in the first leg of their Europa Conference League playoff round tie with Lens.
They were able to return to winning ways in their most recent outing, narrowly defeating newly promoted Levadiakos 1-0 thanks to a 96th-minute winner from Andraz Sporar, and Alonso will be hopeful his side can build upon that with another victory on Thursday.
Lens, however, come into this game as strong favourites to progress through the tie, not only because of their first-leg advantage but also courtesy of their fine form at the start of this season.
Will Still, who took charge in July 2024, enjoyed a positive pre-season with his new team, winning four and drawing one of the five friendlies he oversaw, and they have continued that form into the opening three competitive games.
A dominant performance against Angers saw them kickstart their term with a 1-0 win, followed by their triumph against Panathinaikos and a comfortable 2-0 victory against Brest in their most recent match.
Having dropped from a second-placed finish in 2022-23 to seventh by the end of 2023-24, the Lens higher-ups will be hoping Still can continue their winning momentum from the beginning of the campaign and lead them back up the standings this year.
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Team News
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Star striker Fotis Ioannidis, who netted 23 goals in 44 matches across all competitions last season, has been heavily linked with a move away from the club this summer and was missing from Panathinaikos's last match, but Alonso was reportedly resting him, and he is expected to return to the starting lineup here.
Philipp Max was taken off in the 71st minute of their 1-0 win against Levadiakos due to an injury concern, leaving the left-back as a doubt for this game.
As for Lens, David Costa remains a doubt for the French side after the forward was taken off in the 26th minute of their victory against Panathinaikos last week.
Jimmy Cabot and Neil El Aynaoui are both also unavailable due to injury issues, while Facundo Medina will be out of the team after receiving a red card in the 22nd minute of last Thursday's triumph.
Panathinaikos possible starting lineup:
Dragowski; Kotsiras, Ingason, Jedvaj, Mladenovic; Arao, Cerin, Tete, Bakasetas, Duricic; Ioannidis
Lens possible starting lineup:
Samba; Gradit, Danso, Khusanov; Frankowski, Thomasson, Diouf, Machado; Zaroury; Sotoca, Said
We say: Panathinaikos 1-2 Lens
Despite playing over an hour with 10 men in the first leg, Lens were able to secure a 2-1 victory to take into the away leg, and with 11 men on the pitch in Greece, we believe the visitors will secure another victory here.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ellis Stevens
