Panathinaikosvs.Vikingur

The visitors head to Greece with a one-goal lead to defend, having picked up a narrow victory in the first leg last week.

Match preview

Panathinaikos return to Europa Conference League action on Thursday aiming to overturn a narrow aggregate deficit and advance to the round of 16 on home turf.

After dropping out of Europa League qualifying and booking a league-phase place in the continent's tertiary competition with a two-legged victory over Lens, the Greek giants finished 13th having earned 10 points from their six outings, winning three of those and suffering two defeats.

Those three victories came consecutively in the Greens' final three outings to seal a seeded playoff-round spot, setting up a tie with Vikingur Reykjavik, and after falling two goals behind in last week's first leg, they were able to narrow the gap in injury time as Fotis Ioannidis converted a penalty.

Following that crucial goal, Rui Vitoria's side were back in Greek Super League action on Sunday and made a return to winning ways by beating Volos 2-1 thanks to goals from Sverrir Ingi Ingason and Adam Gnezda Cerin to remain five points behind top spot in their search for a 21st top-flight title and a first since 2010.

Now welcoming Vikingur to Athens for the second leg, Panathinaikos will hope to complete a turnaround in the tie and book a final-16 spot.

Their visitors, meanwhile, head into Thursday's trip hoping to see out the aggregate victory and advance to a European round of 16 for the first time in their history.

Vikingur Reykjavik earned a spot in the Europa Conference League league phase with three aggregate qualifying victories and eventually finished 19th having earned eight points from their six matches, managing two victories and two draws alongside two defeats.

They dropped into an unseeded spot having ended the league-phase fixtures with a defeat to Djurgardens IF and a draw with LASK Linz, while only finishing one point above the first side eliminated from the competition, but Solvi Ottesen's team made an impressive start to their knockout-round playoff tie.

In the first leg in Finland last week, Vikingar took a two-goal lead through David Orn Atlason and Matthias Vilhjalmsson early in each half, but they had to settle for a narrower advantage heading into the away trip following Panathinaikos' late penalty.

Having not been in action since, with their search to regain the Icelandic top flight beginning in April, Vikingur Reykjavik will bid to maintain their aggregate lead on Thursday and book a historic final-16 spot.

Panathinaikos Conference League form:

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Panathinaikos form (all competitions):

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Vikingur Reykjavik Conference League form:

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Team News

Panathinaikos are hampered by several enforced absences, with Anastasios Bakasetas, Tin Jedvaj, Erik Palmer-Brown and former Manchester United winger Facundo Pellistri all set to remain confined to the treatment room, after Bakasetas and Palmer-Brown picked up injuries in the the reverse fixture.

Rui Vitoria should field a similar starting XI from the weekend's 2-1 victory over Volos, although captain and joint-top scorer Fotis Ioannidis could lead the line from the start, having missed that game through suspension after pulling them a goal back off the bench in last week's first leg.

He will likely have support from Tete, Adam Gnezda Cerin and Filip Duricic, with Tete and Duricic also level on nine goals for the season, while Marseille loanee Azzedine Ounahi and January arrival Manolis Siopis could again partner up in the midfield despite competition from Nemanja Maksimovic.

Vikingur Reykjavic could be unchanged from last week's first-leg victory, although Matthias Vilhjalmsson does have a claim to come in from the start having netted his side's second goal in that match.

Captain Nikolaj Hansen will also hope to return to the attack from the outset, having missed the first leg through suspension after netting a team-high tally of five goals in 12 continental games so far this term.

Tarik Ibrahimagic, Oliver Ekroth and Sveinn Gisli Thorkelsson should continue in a back three as they bid to see out the aggregate win.

Panathinaikos possible starting lineup:

Lodygin; Kotsiras, Ingason, Schenkeveld, Mladenovic; Siopis, Ounahi; Tete, Cerin, Duricic; Ioannidis

Vikingur Reykjavik possible starting lineup:

Jonsson; Ibrahimagic, Ekroth, Thorkelsson; Atlason, Agnarsson, Hafsteinsson, Vilhjalmsson, Gudjonsson; Hansen, Ingimundarson

We say: Panathinaikos 3-0 Vikingur Reykjavik (Panathinaikos win 4-2 on aggregate)

Written by

Sam Varley

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