Europa League Qualification: PAOK versus Fenerbahce, Match Review
POAK took on Fenerbahce in the crucial first leg of the two legged Europa League qualification play-off match at the Toumba Stadium in Saloniki, Greece. Fenerbahce hail from the Turkish Football League, which is also known as the Super Lig and in their last season’s, league campaign, Fenerbahce finished at the second placed spot.
On the other hand, POAK are a football club which is based in the Greek city of Saloniki. POAK competed in last year’s regular league season in Greece and finished as the second best team in Greece after finishing runners up in the Greek football league, which is also known as the Super League Greece.
Both the clubs have an almost non-existent history when it comes to the European level of club cup competitions such as the Europa League or the much higher rated UEFA Champions League. Despite the fact that their past experiences have not been that successful, the match was highly anticipated by both the club’s supporters due to the revenue that comes from competing in the Europa League.
POAK approached the match in a patchy state of form as they had drawn three, won one and lost one out of their last five matches. Their only win came against AEK Athens. Conversely, Fenerbahce came off the back of a big win by four goals to nil over, Antalyaspor. Out of their previous five matches the Turkish giants had won one, drawn two and lost two.
Before the match it was expected that POAK’s midfielder Vladimir Ivic would light the game on fire, as he is currently their top scorer in pre-season with ten goals followed by Zlatan Muslimovic and Vieirinha with nine and eight goals respectively. As it was anticipated, Muslimovic along with Vieirinha started the match as POAK’s two strikers. In the middle of the park, POAK’s coach Pavlos Dermitzakis opted for four players namely, Vladimir Ivic, Vitolo, Pablo Garcia and Dimitrios Salpingidis. At the back, Stilianos Malezas, Pablo Contreras, Lino and Anis Boussaidi took up their defensive responsibilities in front of POAK’s goal keeper, Dario Kresic
For Fenerbahce, Semi Senturk played as the singular striker in attack. Alex took up his usual number ten role in Fenerbahce’s midfield and he was accompanied by Mehmet Topuz, Caner Erkin, Selcuk Sahin and Cristian. In defense, Gokhan Gonul, Andre Santos, Ilhan Eker and Diego Lugano played as the back four which was organized by Fenerbahce’s goal keeper, Volkan Demirel.
Despite POAK’s home advantage for the first leg of the Europa League qualification match against Fenerbahce, the Turkish club was seen as the favorites to get the three points from the match due to their superior lineup on paper. However, POAK approached the game in a positive manner with a 4-4-2 formation while Fenerbahce, adopted a much more conservative 4-5-1.
The referee for the match was Manuel Grafe from Germany and his linesmen, Marcus Hacker, Volker Wezel were also from the same country. Right at the start of the first half in the 5th minute of the match, Caner Erkin picked up the first yellow card of the encounter. POAK clearly had no regard for reputations as they streamed forward and they soon reaped their rewards for using an attacking formation as in the 19th minute of the match Vieirinha gave them the lead through a fine right footed finish.
In the 27th minute of the first half, Semih Sentürk became the second player to get booked from Fenerbahce and after around about seventeen minutes his team mate, Diego Lugano also followed the same course and saw a yellow card for his troubles just before the end of the half in the 44th minute of the match. At the end of the first half, the score was one nil to POAK. At the half way mark, Fenerbahce made their first substitution in the 46th minute as Semih Senturk made way for Mamadou Niang.
In the 51st minute of the match, Vitolo became the fourth player to first player from POAK to get booked by the referee. However, Vitolo did not learn his lesson after his first yellow card and was shown a second one by the German referee at the 58th minute mark in the second half. The second yellow card meant an automatic suspension for him from the rest of the match as POAK were forced to play on with only ten men against Fenerbahce’s eleven. In the 73rd and the 74th minute of the match, referee again brandished his yellow card for Vladimir Ivic of POAK and Andre Santos of Fenerbahce. The game turned ill tempered towards the end and the referee did practice some common sense as he kept his cards in his pocket to abstain from sending another player off.
In the second half, after going down to ten men POAK lost the initiative and were constantly on the back foot as Fenerbahce pressed on for the equalizing goal. Despite their best efforts, the Turkish giants could not score an away goal and now have a tough task at hand in the second leg, which is going to be held in turkey at Fenerbahce’s home stadium.
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