Historic night in Europe for PAOK and Olympiakos
PAOK and Olympiakos produced historic reversals of their poor results a week earlier to win handsomely on Thursday in the return leg games and advance to the quarterfinals of the Europa Conference League. That was a rare night of glory in Europe for Greek soccer this season.
PAOK thrashed Dinamo Zagreb 5-1 in Toumba and overturned its 2-0 deficit from seven nights earlier.
The Thessaloniki team had already secured a 3-0 score from the first half, with goals from Abdul Baba Rahman, Brandon Thomas and an own goal from Petar Sucic.
Dinamo pulled one back early in the second half through Arber Hoxha, but could not contain the Greeks, who scored again via Kostas Koulierakis and Andrija Zivkovic for a famous result.
Olympiakos produced an even more spectacular recovery, as it managed to follow up its 4-1 home loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv with a 6-1 triumph in the away leg in Serbia in extra time.
Just like PAOK, Olympiakos led 3-0 at half-time courtesy of Daniel Podence, Kostas Fortounis and Ayoub El Kaabi.
A penalty kick by Eran Zahavi temporarily reduced the arrears for the hosts who played their home games at Backa Topola, before El Kaabi restored the Reds’ three-goal lead on the night.
With the final score at 4-1 after 90 minutes, the game went to extra time, where Olympiakos extended its dominance. Sasa Jovetic and Youssef El Arabi were on target for the Reds to seal their qualification to the last eight.
The draw for the quarterfinals of the Conference League is taking place on Friday.
