Towards the stars

The winner will play against Spartak Moskva in the third qualification round.

In the first match PAOK were supperior and managed to score two goals but a moment of naivety of their defense, let the Swiss team score this away goal. Canias and Prijiovic were PAOK's scorers, while Albian Ajeti was for Basel.

Basel did not have a good performance in the first game and so they lost. The away goal they scored, could give them the chance to qualify if they score in this match again. Their bad performance, made their coach Raphael Wicky to leave the bench and now team's coach is temporary Alexander Frei till they find the substitute. In Swiss Championship, after the 1-2 defeat from St. Gallen in the first round, they drew 1-1 with Xamax in an away match where Alexander Frei made some changes, having the game with PAOK in mind. 

On the other hand PAOK had plenty of time to prepare themselves for this second game against Basel. They are also doing great in transcriptions which close any empty space the team have. The acquisition of Arsenal's player Chuba Akpom, who was borrowed in Sint- Truiden last year, is announced. He is a player who can help PAOK's attacking line. The team of 49 years old manager Razvan Lucescu will play with no absences.

Basel will try to make the overturn and qualify this time in home. I am not sure that they can achieve this against PAOK, a well combined team. They are homogeneous. PAOK are very strong both in defense and in attack. Even the away win in Switzerland is possible.