Thursday, starting at 20:00, the BATE – PAOK game will be played in the second round of the Europa League, 2018-2019 edition.
The two bands have not met in European competitions so far.
BATE Borisov leads the Belarusian championship. After 22 disputed rounds, “yellow-blue” scored 57 points, losing a single game. They were eliminated from the Champions League play-off by the Dutch PSV Eindhoven, score 2-6 in general. In the first round of the Europa League, the Belarusians defeated MOL Vidi in Hungary, score 2-0.
PAOK Thessaloniki, the band coached by Razvan Lucescu defeated to Olympiakos Piraeus in the last round in Greece, “white-and-black” being the leader in the league. PAOK won all 5 rounds of the championship, but they are penalized 2 points after the unpleasant events of last season. In the first round of the Europa League, they lost on their own field, score 0-1 with Chelsea London, goal scored by Willian in the 7th minute.
The Greeks are forced to win in Belarus to continue their chances of qualifying in the spring of Europe. PAOK is a very compact and pragmatic band.
Probable teams:
BATE: Chichkan – Filipenko, Filipovic, Milunovic – Baga, Dragun, Rios, Stasevich, Yablonski – Moukam, Skavysh
PAOK: Paschalakis – Vieirinha, Khacheridi, Varela, Tosca – Wernbloom, Mauricio, Lima, Shakhov – El Kaddouri, Pelekas.
PREDICTION: BTS / YES @ 2.00
