Great start for Panathinaikos, mediocre for PAOK and Aris
Panathinaikos returned after six years to the Champions League qualifiers with a victory on the road, while PAOK and Aris recorded draws in their opening games for the Conference League qualifying stages.
The Greens won 3-1 at Kosice, in Slovakia, that Dnipro-1 uses as its home ground for its European games being unable to host matches in Ukraine.
The Greek team made a very positive start to its season, leading 3-0 up to the 90th minute with goals by Andraz Sporar, Filip Djuricic and a Fotis Ioannidis penalty. Dnipro-1 pulled one back through Volodymyr Tanchyk.
The return leg for this second qualifying round tie is next Tuesday at the Apostolos Nikolaidis stadium in Athens.
In the Europa Conference League PAOK shared a goalless draw on Thursday with Beitar Jerusalem in Thessaloniki.
Frustrated PAOK had a Stefan Schwab penalty kick saved by Beitar goalkeeper Miguel Silva.
Aris drew 1-1 at Ararat-Armenia, and was lucky to escape defeat in Yerevan.
The hosts went ahead early on via Wilfried Eza, but Aris quickly equalized through a Luis Palma strike.
Both second legs for PAOK and Aris are to be held next Thursday.
