PAOK vs Brann

PAOK welcome Norwegian side Brann to their Toumba Stadium home on Thursday evening for the first leg of their UEFA Europa Conference League play-off round tie, with a place in the league phase at stake. The Greek side dropped into this competition after a dramatic and contentious Europa League qualifying exit to Belgian outfit Anderlecht.

Team News and Injury Latest

PAOK will be without two key players for the first leg. Andrija Živković and Alexander Jeremejeff are both suspended after being sent off in stoppage time during the chaotic 3-2 defeat at Anderlecht last week. A melee broke out following a late penalty, and the subsequent red cards mean the pair will sit out the opening leg of this play-off tie. Manager Răzvan Lucescu must now reshuffle his attack for this crucial encounter.

There is no specific squad information available from the Brann camp as of yet. The Norwegian club's official squad list for the play-off round has not been released, but they are expected to arrive in Thessaloniki with a clean bill of health after navigating the earlier qualifying rounds.

PAOK Form Guide

PAOK's European campaign has been full of incident. They entered the Europa League third qualifying round against Anderlecht looking to overturn a 1-0 home deficit from the first leg. In Belgium, they found themselves 1-0 down early via a Biancon effort, making the tie 2-0 on aggregate. Goals from Giannis Konstantelias and a Made Camara effort that was eventually ruled out for offside by VAR briefly sparked hope, and Jeremejeff's late penalty set up a tense finish. However, Anderlecht held firm, and the late dismissal of two PAOK players compounded a painful exit.