The PAOK team qualified for the quarter-finals of the Conference League tournament after defeating the Croatian champions at home with 5:1 in the second leg against Dinamo Zagreb.
The “Undertakers”, who lost 0:2 as a guest a week ago, played their strongest match in Europe this season and with a total score of 5:3 they continue to the next phase of the third strongest competition on the Old Continent.
At the Tumba Stadium in Thessaloniki, the hosts took the lead through Abdul-Rahman Baba, who headed in from close range in the 27th minute, and just six later, Konstantinos Koulierakis’ long-range shot ricocheted off the body of Petar Suchic and into the home side’s goal. , to bring the clash level.
Razvan Lucescu’s men continued to press until the break and in the 42nd minute Brandon Thomas converted to put PAOK ahead on aggregate for the first time.
Dinamo Zagreb players responded soon after play resumed and in the 49th minute Arber Hoxha scored to restore parity in the clash.
Twenty minutes after that goal, the Bulgarian international Kiril Despodov appeared in the game for the Greek team, whose corner kick soon after caused a stir in the visitors’ penalty area, which eventually ended with a chest goal by Konstantinos Koulierakis, who restored the lead to “undertakers” in the overall result.
Shortly before the end of regular time, the Serbian international Andrija Zivkovic made the final 5:1 in the match for PAOK, scoring from a penalty awarded for a violation against Kiril Despodov.
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