AEK vs PAOK Match Preview

AEK faces PAOK in this first leg of the semifinal round of the Greek Cup at OAKA Stadium.

The hosts struggled a bit against Volos in the previous round of the competition but they managed to gualify. In the first leg, AEK prevailed by 4-2 but in the second match they lost 1-0, but still, their home-game lead made them pass through the semi-finals. The Greek Cup remains their only goal for this season as their league campaign was by far below all their expectations. In the previous round of the Greek Super League league, AEK suffered an embarrassing 5-1 defeat against the league leaders, Olympiacos, after a terrible performance in the first half, when they had already conceded 4 times. After this outcome, they dropped at 5th place on the table, with a total of 48 points.

PAOK qualified to the semifinals rather easier against Lamia, winning 5-2 in the first leg, while they drew 1-1 in the second leg on the road. Since they have lost every realistic hope of reaching the top spot of the table as well, the Greek Cup became their priority for a successful season.

In the previous round of the Greek Super League, they suffered a heavy 3-0 defeat to Panathinaikos on the road. Their defensive gaps led to this defeat as they couldn't hold back their opponent. Panathinaikos opened the scoreline at the 39th minute and scored two more goals in the last quarter of the match. After this defeat, they remained at the 3rd spot of the standings with 50 points, 4 points below second-placed Aris, and 1 point ahead of the fourth-placed Panathinaikos.

Today's game is very interesting, between two sides that come from negative results and will give their best to get all three points here. AEK seems to be in a rather worst form, however, PAOK keeps struggling when playing on the road. Both teams will seek victory and considering their defensive problems they facing at this moment, I expect to see many goals in this one. Over 2.5 goals to be scored is my final call, offered at decent 2.25 odds.