Panathinaikos and Slavia Prague will do battle at the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium on Thursday in the second leg of their Europa Conference League qualifier.
The away side carry a two-goal lead from the first leg, but the tie remains far from over as the hosts seek to get themselves back on track.
Match preview
Slavia Prague came out on top in what turned out to be a very feisty affair against Panathinaikos at the Fortuna Arena on Thursday evening.
Ivan Schranz opened the scoring in the dying embers of the first half before Moses Usor got on the scoresheet 10 minutes into the second period to seal the deal for Jindrich Trpisovsky's men.
The red and whites eased past the threat of Fastav Zlin in their subsequent league outing on Sunday, and they have now bounced back from a 1-0 loss to Hradec Kralove on the opening matchday.
Next up for the Czech Republic outfit is the conclusion of their European tie as they look to feature in the Conference League for the second successive campaign.
With their last nine away games yielding just two wins, Thursday's visitors will need to get their act together on the road to avoid what could turn out to be a costly defeat.
While Panathinaikos still await the start of their domestic league campaign, the Greek giants are looking to preserve their European ambitions but have it all do as they now have to overturn a first-leg deficit.
The Shamrock Green paid the price for a largely underwhelming display on the road and now look to turn things around on their own patch.
Ivan Jovanovic's men will however take solace from being unbeaten at home since late January when they were defeated 1-0 by Asteras Tripolis.
More importantly, Thursday's hosts have also recorded shutouts in all but one of their last seven home matches and that defensive solidity will be needed here to serve as a platform to build upon.
- L
- D
- W
- D
- D
- W
- L
- W
- W
- L
- W
- L
- W
- L
- W
- W
Team News
Ivan Schranz has found the back of the net in each of his last two appearances, and the Slavia Prague forward is definitely one to keep an eye on.
Twenty-four-year-old Eduardo Santos is suspended for the away side after he was shown a straight red card in last week's first leg.
Panathinaikos' Sebastian Palacios is also ineligible to take part in this one having received his marching orders for two bookable offences in the aforementioned game.
Having recently made his return to action, the Slovenian Andraz Sporar is the favourite to replace Palacios in the starting XI here.
Panathinaikos possible starting lineup:
Brignoli; Ganea, Magnusson, Sarlija, Kotsiras; Gnezda, Perez, Kourbelis; Sporar, Ioannidis, Cantalapiedra
Slavia Prague possible starting lineup:
Mandous; Doudera, Ousou, Kacharaba, Dorley; Tiehi, Holes; Schranz, Traore, Olayinka; Lingr
We say: Panathinaikos 2-1 Slavia Prague
Now in the last chance saloon to keep their continental aspirations alive, the onus will be more on Panathinaikos to seize control of proceedings. While we fancy them to come out on top here, we are tipping the visitors to just about get the job done on the overall aggregate.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
body check tags ::
Previews by email
