Greek giants PAOK face an uphill task in the first leg of their Champions League 3rd qualifying round clash with Metalist seeing as how their loyal fans are banned from attending.

One of the most supported clubs in Greece impressed last season to finish the league campaign in second place before winning the Champions League play-offs to return to Europe’s elite competition following a two-year absence.

As a result, club chiefs did their best to reinforce the squad over the summer, appointing Huub Stevens as the new boss, while also signing a number of quality players.

Sekou Oliseh, Tomas Necid, Inigo Lopez and Lucas Perez were among the players to arrive during off-season, but the team might need some time to gel after recruiting no less than nine new footballers.

Nevertheless, having looked pretty solid in pre-season and having recorded a 6-0 victory over Nice in their final warm-up game, PAOK are 3.00 (2/1) with bet365 to defeat Metalist at their Toumba Stadium.

Huub Stevens’ men will have to work really hard if they are to compensate for the lack of home support, while they also have to be wary of the opponents’ swift counterattacks.

There are no fresh injury worries for the hosts, although striker Tomas Necid is unlikely to start after failing to impress during pre-season.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Jacobo – Skondras, Katsouranis, Vitor, Lino – Lazar, Tziolis – Salpingidis, Vukic, Lucas – Athanasiadis.

Metalist Kharkiv have been on the major uptrend over the last five or six years and after achieving six straight third-place finishes, the team impressed to pip Dynamo Kiev to the second place in the standings last term.

Myron Markevych’s side were also pretty solid in Europe, winning their Europa League group before narrowly losing to Newcastle in the knockout stages.

The team, however, aim to go one step further this time out and reach the Champions League group stages for the first time in history.

That looks a realistic possibility after the star-studded squad were reinforced with the likes of Marko Devic, Rodrigo Moldeo and Diego Souza this summer.

Metalist in turn enjoyed a brilliant start to the season, winning their first three league games, so no wonder they are now 2.60 (8/5) favourites with Coral to see off PAOK as well.

First choice keeper Aleksandr Goryainov has picked up an injury in the weekend’s victory over Illichivets, with Vladimir Disljenkovic set to deputize.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Disljenkovic – Villagra, Gueye, Moledo, Azevedo – Krasnoperov, Edmar – Diego Souza, Blanco, Sosa – Devic.

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