Article by Romeo Ene – Published on Sunday, 09 November 2025, 23:00 / Updated on Sunday, 09 November 2025 23:00
PAOK Thessaloniki, the team coached by Răzvan Lucescu (56 years old), lost on the field of Panathinaikos, score 1-2, in the 10th stage of the Greek championship. His team was coming off a seven-game winning streak. Rafa Benitez, the famous Spanish technician, was recently installed on Panathinaikos' bench.
The hosts were not going through the best moment from a sporting point of view. They installed Rafa Benitez, the experienced Spanish coach, on the technical bench at the end of October.
And the first 30 minutes were a nightmare for PAOK. Pantovic opened the scoring in the 20th minute, and Jedvaj doubled the hosts' advantage. PAOK forced in the second half and reduced the gap through Konstantelias.
The ending was dramatic. PAOK went on the attack, but were unable to break down Panathinaikos' defence. It ended 2-1, and PAOK loses first place to Olympiakos.
With 23 points, he is in the 2nd place of the leader. Panathinaikos climbs to 6th with 15 points. Next is the duel at home with Kifisia, on November 23.
FINAL » Panathinaikos – PAOK Thessaloniki 2-1
Starting teams at Panathinaikos – PAOK
Panathinaikos (4-2-3-1): Lafont – Pantovic, Chirivella, Touba, Kyriakopoulos – Palmer-Brown, Siopis – Tete, Djuricic, Zaroury – Jedvaj
reserves: Dragowski, Bakasetas, Bokos, Bregou, Fikaj, Gnezda Cerin, Ingason, D. Mancini, F. Mladenovic, Nikas, Pellistri, Taborda
Coach: Rafael Benitez
PAOK Thessaloniki (4-2-3-1): Tsiftsis – Kenny, Kedziora, Lovren, Baba – Meite, Konstantelias – Despodov, Ozdoev, Zivkovic – Giakoumakis
reserves: Gugeshashvili, Pavlenka, Bianco, Chalov, Ivanusec, Michailidis, Pelkas, Sastre, Taison, G. Taylor, Tsopouroglou, Vogliacco
Coach: Răzvan Lucescu
PAOK are in their best form in recent years
After a shaky start to the season, PAOK started stringing together wins and made it seven in a row. It is in 2nd place in the Greek championship, with 23 points, 2 behind Olympiakos. But he goes first if he beats Panathinaikos.
Răzvan Lucescu's opponent is 8th ahead of the game, with 12 points. PAOK come after beating Young Boys 4-0 in the main group of the Europa League.
On the other side, Panathinaikos beat Malmo, 1-0.
The two teams last met on April 27, when PAOK won at home, 2-1.
