Panathinaikos take on the visitors Dnipro-1 in the second leg of UEFA Champions League qualification quarterfinals. First leg result: 3-1. The match will be played on Tuesday, August 1st at Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium (Athens).
Panathinaikos returned to the qualification after a break. The Greens once reached the final of the European Cup and have secured 20 golden medals in their domestic arena. However, their last first-place finish was back in 2010, and since then, except for some cup successes, they have mainly been in the second tier of Greek football. Only recently, under their current coach Ivan Jovanovic, they have started to show signs of improvement. Last year, they brought the cup back to Athens for the first time since 2014. In the recently concluded Super League, PAO finished the regular season as leaders, but they faltered during the championship playoffs, ending up behind their rivals from AEK. Nevertheless, they managed to qualify for the Champions League. Strengthening their squad during the summer (bringing back Zeca, signing fellow countrymen of the coach - Djuricic, Edouard, Mladenovic, and Vilhena), the Greeks started the campaign with a confident victory in Kosice. The 3-1 scoreline allows them to approach the second leg with confidence and composure.
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Dnipro-1 are playing at this level for the first time. The yellow-blacks tried to distance themselves at least formally from their predecessor (hence the drastic change in colors), particularly from its financial troubles. The new club, with many recognizable Dnipro players in its core, managed to quickly climb up from the Second to the First Ukrainian League. In the Ukrainian Premier League (UPL), they achieved a decent result only in the previous season, finishing in third place, which earned them a debut in European competitions. Under their current coach, Kucher, they lost to AEK from Larnaca twice in European competitions, in the Europa League qualifiers and in the Conference League playoffs. However, they managed to progress to the group stage in the latter. They also narrowly missed out on the first-place finish in the UPL, which went to Donetsk's Shakhtar in the final stages of the season. But they did secure a spot in the Champions League qualification. Unfortunately, they had a rough debut there, with a goal from Tanchyk being a mere consolation after conceding three goals.
Head-to-head matches between the two teams took place for the first time on July 25. There seem to be no arguments in favor of intrigue in this pair. Panathinaikos are stronger, so let's go with a bet that they will win in the second leg as well, with a handicap of -1,0 goals scored.
Prediction for the match: Panathinaikos to win with -1.0 handicap.
