After making contrasting starts to their Europa League league-phase campaigns last week, PAOK and FCSB will square off in the second round of fixtures on Thursday. The hosts started with a trip to Galatasaray last time out and left empty-handed, while their visitors got off the mark with a convincing victory at home to Rigas Futbola Skola. © Imago PAOK return to action on Thursday aiming to record their first Europa League points of the campaign, after enduring a losing start to the league phase last week.
After winning their fourth Greek Super League title last time around, the White-Blacks began on the continent this season in the second round of Champions League qualifying, and they initially got past Borac Banja Luka only to exit in agonising fashion at the hands of Malmo in the following round, eventually losing 6-5 on aggregate after extra time. That left Razvan Lucescu 's side to fight for a spot in the inaugural Europa League league phase, and they cruised past Shamrock Rovers in the playoff round to progress, picking up a 6-0 aggregate victory in August, only to fall short in their main-competition opener. The Greek champions faced a tough trip to Turkey to take on Galatasaray last week and left empty-handed, eventually succumbing to a 3-1 defeat despite drawing level through Giannis Konstantelias in the 67th minute, as Yunus Akgun quickly restored the hosts' lead before Mauro Icardi put the game out of sight in injury time.
Having failed to bounce back from that de.