Wednesday, starting at 18:00, the PAOK Thessaloniki – Spartak Moscow match will be played in the preliminary round of the Champions League 2018-2019.
The two clubs have never met, the Wednesday match will be a premiere.
Razvan Lucescu has built a renowned band, very hard to beat. He fought until the last stage for the title of champion in Greece and only the disciplinary committees made him lose the trophy. He is sure to re-emerge in the domestic competition, but he also has a good chance in the Champions League. He transferred three new players during this period. The 19-year-old Brazilian Leo Jaba came from Akhmat Grozny, Chuba Akpom from Arsenal and Evgen Khacheridi who arrived free from Dinamo Kiev. The Greeks have gone through the previous two rounds of FC Basel, 5-1.
On the other side, Spartak Moscow coached by Italian Massimo Carrera played 2 games in the first league of Russia in this season’s debut. In the first stage he defeated Orenburg 1-0 with his new home, then drew 0-0 away to the Lokomotiv en-titon champion. It is worth mentioning that he managed two transfers, Samuel Gigot brought for 8 million euros from KAA Gent and Aleksandr Tashaev from Dinamo Moscow.
A very balanced match is announced and it is hard to predict who will go further than this double. But taking into account the style of Razvan Lucescu, he will do everything possible that PAOK will not lose in the first hand.
PREDICTION: Both teams to score / NO @ 1.76
