Fiorentina and Panathinaikos will meet at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in the pick of the second legs in the Conference League on Thursday night.
The first leg saw the Greeks come out on top by the odd strike in a five-goal thriller, with the finalists from the past two editions of this competition facing a potential early elimination.
Match preview
After leading 2-0 inside 20 minutes, Panathinaikos made the dream start in Athens last week, but it took La Viola just four minutes to pull themselves level with two quick-fire goals from Lucas Beltran and Nicolo Fagioli.
It could have been even better for Raffaele Palladino's men, but they agonisingly saw Matias Moreno's late first-half strike ruled out by VAR, before Tete went on to win the first leg for the hosts shortly after the interval.
Whoever advances will be the big favourites against either Celje or Lugano in the quarter-finals, and both have huge motivation to go far in this competition.
Panathinaikos had to sit back and watch rivals Olympiacos win the Conference League last season, but it was Fiorentina who they beat in the final, and La Viola will be hoping this campaign can be third time lucky for them, after also losing to West Ham United in Prague in 2023.
The winners of this tie will not meet standout favourites Chelsea until the final either, so it is certainly a favourable run to the final, but they would have hoped to avoid each other at this stage.
Fiorentina are now the outsiders to progress following the first-leg defeat, but they are still third among the bookmakers to win the competition, owing to the favourable run they would have should they complete the turnaround here.
Palladino's men handled the league phase with little fuss, taking 13 points from a possible 18 and finishing third, with the draw just being slightly unfortunate to them.
Fiorentina have dealt with adversity many times in this competition though, such as when a spirited Lech Poznan side almost stunned them on their run to the final in 2023, when they also needed a 130th-minute winner from Antonin Barak to beat Basel in the semi-finals.
Last season, Fiorentina also edged narrow encounters against Maccabi Haifa and Club Brugge that threatened at certain points to go against them, so a one-goal deficit will not faze the hosts here.
They battled well at the weekend too despite losing 2-1 at title-challengers Napoli, with Robin Gosens and Cher Ndour both missing late chances that could have salvaged a point.
That was a fifth defeat in six games though, causing a slide to eighth in the Serie A standings, and considering a top-six finish may be required for European qualification, La Viola now find themselves five points adrift.
Tricky tests against Juventus, Atalanta and AC Milan are up next in their following three games after this clash in Europe too, making it imperative Palladino's side progress to keep their season alive.
Panathinaikos stand in their way, and the Greek side have endured their fair share of drama on the continent this season too.
Rui Vitoria's side have already had to beat Lens in qualifying, before taking just 10 points during the league phase, dropping into the playoffs where they faced debutants Vikingur Reykjavik, and made an absolute mess of the tie.
Pana needed a last-minute winner to beat the Icelandic side, after initially trailing 2-0 in the first leg, in a result that has been symptomatic of their form during 2025 so far.
Olympiacos have already knocked them out of the domestic cup and sit 10 points clear of them at the top of the standings, while bottom-of-the-table Lamia stunned them at the end of last month, so the first leg win was something of an outlier.
Team News
After serving suspensions in the league at the weekend, Rolando Mandragora and Nicolo Zaniolo will both be available for Fiorentina in this one, with the former set to start.
David de Gea has often been left in reserve during their Conference League journey so far, with Pietro Terracciano utilised as the cup goalkeeper, and despite letting in three last week, he could come back into the side here.
Ndour and Pablo Mari are not in Fiorentina's Europa League squad, but the returning Yacine Adli is, and he returned from injury at the weekend as an unused sub, but there is still no sign of Andrea Colpani or Michael Folorunsho after recent setbacks.
Panathinaikos boss Vitoria named a strong XI for the trip to Atromitos at the weekend, and there will likely be very few changes from that side here.
Former Fiorentina man Bartlomiej Dragowski, who spent six years at the Artemio Franchi, should return to his old stomping ground between the sticks, while fellow Pole Karol Swiderski will battle with Fotis Ioannidis for a start up front.
Tasos Bakasetas, Tin Jedvaj, Erik Palmer-Brown and Facundo Pellistri will all be big misses on the treatment table for the visitors, while the likes of Zeca, Bart Schenkeveld and Dimitrios Limnios are among seven first-team players not registered in this competition.
Fiorentina possible starting lineup:
Terracciano; Dodo, Comuzzo, Ranieri, Gosens; Cataldi, Mandragora, Fagioli; Gudmundsson, Kean, Beltran
Panathinaikos possible starting lineup:
Dragowski; Willian Arao, Ingason, Maksimovic; Kotsiras, Ounahi, Siopis, Mladenovic; Tete, Ioannidis, Djuricic
We say: Fiorentina 3-1 Panathinaikos
Fiorentina have fought back in many European ties over the past three years, and are well experienced at getting the job done in this competition, so they will fancy their chances of turning the tables here, despite being the slight outsiders.
Panathinaikos have lost four of their last nine matches, and were held to a 1-1 draw by Atromitos in the league with a strong XI at the weekend, suggesting that a lack of consistency could be their undoing here, after also flattering to deceive against Vikingur in the previous round.
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