FCSB take a narrow advantage into the second leg of their Europa League knockout playoff tie against PAOK on Thursday night after a surprise win in Thessaloniki last week.

Second-half goals from Andrei Gheorghita and Joyskim Dawa turned the tie on its head in Greece, with the Romanians in the driving seat ahead of the second leg.

Match preview

There is little to separate FCSB, managed by Cypriot Elias Charalambous, and PAOK, managed by Romanian Razvan Lucescu in this clash between the Romanian and Greek giants.

After Ally Samatta's early goal in Salonika, PAOK looked set to take control of the tie, and could have been further ahead before the huge flashpoint of Taison's red card just before the interval.

That turned the tie on its head, with FCSB going on to win 2-1, making them the favourites to advance to the last 16.

FCSB may have finished the league phase in 11th, 11 places above PAOK, but it was the Greek side who were favourites to progress before the first leg, and the visitors will still feel confident of doing what the Romanian's did to them a week ago.

That will be challenging though given FCSB's recent form that has now seen them win three in a row and go five unbeaten, after also beating Gloria Buzau 2-0 at the weekend.

Manchester United are the only team to beat Charalambous's men in eight games since the winter break, keeping them top of Romania's Liga I, and they will now seek to win a knockout tie in Europe for the first time since 2013, when they knocked Ajax out on penalties in this competition.

Advancing with a victory in this second leg would also see FCSB win both legs of a European knockout tie for the first time since the 2005-06 UEFA Cup, when they knocked Valerenga out on the way to the semi-finals.

The home support will be dreaming of similar such success in a wide-open Europa League this season, but that run from nearly two decades ago does bring back the nightmares of squandering a 3-0 aggregate lead 30 minutes into the second leg against Middlesbrough.

History favours the hosts ahead of this second leg though, because FCSB have only lost to Greek opposition once in five previous meetings - in a 6-3 defeat to Panathinaikos back in 1998.

That is bad news for PAOK, who themselves have a dreadful record against Romanian clubs, winning just one of five, and that came all the way back in the 1970-71 Fairs Cup first round against Dinamo Bucharest.

After also losing on matchday eight of the league phase away to Real Sociedad, PAOK could fall to defeat in three successive European games for the first time in six years here, and that is a very real possibility considering they have lost five of their last six away matches on the continent.

While the Greeks were Conference League quarter-finalists in 2022 and 2024, they have never reached the last 16 of the UEFA Cup/Europa League, so it was important to breed some confidence ahead of a potentially historical fixture.

Lucescu's men duly obliged, thrashing Lamia 7-0 at the weekend, but sitting eight points behind leaders Olympiacos means the title looks a distant dream, placing even greater importance on advancing in Europe.

Team News

Charalambous changed almost his entire FCSB team at the weekend for the trip to Gloria Buzau, keeping the majority of his important first-team players in reserve ahead of this return leg.

Gheorghita played a big role in pulling FCSB back into the game last week, and despite starting at the weekend, he could do so again with Daniel Birligea suspended after his booking in Greece.

Risto Radunovic was banned at the weekend and will return here, but Octavian Popescu, Mihai Lixandru, Darius Olaru, Miha Toma and William Baeten are all currently nursing injuries for the hosts.

Taison is banned for PAOK following his dismissal in the first leg, and with seven players not registered to play in Europe, Lucescu's options in terms of personnel are slightly limited.

The injured Dejan Lovren, as well as Tiemoue Bakayoko, Jiri Pavlenka, Vieirinha, Sergio Pena, Mateusz Wieteska and Jonathan Gomez will all be unavailable here, due to the limited number of changes PAOK could make to their Europa League squad ahead of the playoffs.

Some of PAOK's squad players proved their worth at the weekend though, as they won 7-0 with a slightly rotated side, but the star man was regular starter Giannis Konstantelias, who scored a hat trick inside an hour.

FCSB possible starting lineup:
Tarnovanu; Cretu, Dawa, M Popescu, Radunovic; Chiriches, Sut; Gheorghita, Cisotti, Tanase; Stefanescu

PAOK possible starting lineup:
Tsiftsis; Jonny, Kedziora, Michailidis, Baba Rahman; Meite, Schwab; Pelkas, Konstantelias, Zivkovic; Samatta

We say: FCSB 1-3 PAOK

PAOK were favourites ahead of the tie, and do have the stronger squad on paper, so despite their poor record against Romanian clubs, they will fancy their chances of progressing.

Nobody knows what would have happened in Greece if the numbers on each side remained equal, but they will be at kick off here, and FCSB could struggle with the attacking talent in the PAOK side, in a tie that should be close, and may well go beyond the 180 minutes.


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