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Schalke dominated the first leg but ended up with a disappointing 1-1 draw. The german team had a disastrous start to the season and this game is huge for them from all points of view – sporting, financial, keeping jobs and so on. Schalke has just 1 point from 3 games in the Bundesliga, they showed big weaknesses in defense. They did meet strong teams, that is a small excuse for them. The fact that Huntelaar is missing could look like a disaster for Schalke, but they have fantastic quality in attack even without him – Szalai can score anytime. Kolasinac, Obasi and Papa also missing, Farfan and Uchida slightly doubtful.
PAOK managed to capitalize on this situation at Schalke and can now dream to reach the group stages. Form wise, they have 1 win and one loss in the league. But PAOK has many problems of their own. Firstly, they don’t really deserve to be in the playoffs – they only reached this round because Metalist Kharkov has been banned by UEFA. The ukraineans have beaten PAOK rather clearly in the third qualifying leg (2-0 in Greece, 1-1 in Ukraine). Secondly, today`s hosts also have some squad problems, with Lazar, Lawrence and Lino unavailable. The biggest issue for PAOK however is the fact that they will have to play without their fans, also because of an UEFA ban. The greeks are so much better in front of their fanatic supporters, so that will hurt PAOK.
Note that former Schalke boss, Huub Stevens, is now PAOK`s manager. Personally I don’t find this to be important, he knows Schalke, but also Schalke knows him.
Schalke is by far the better team in this game, of course, but the main thing here is that the greeks will be without fan support, almost making this a neutral-venue game. With all the experience and class the germans have, they should be trusted to get out of the slump and at least get a hard fought win today. Big teams usually don’t fail at playoff level in Champions League, regardless of their situation. I really can not see PAOK going to the group stages and even though Schalke could qualify with a draw, they should have enough to see of the Salonic team today. Surely Schalke does not want to reach extratime and penalties or tremble for a 2-2 draw in the last minutes.
PAOK: Jacobo – Kitsiou, Katsouranis, Miguel Vitor, Spyropoulos – Garcia, Tziolis – Oliseh, Lucas, Stoch – Salpingidis
Schalke: Hildebrand – Uchida, Santana, Höwedes, Fuchs – Höger, Jones – Farfan, Draxler, Clemens – Szalai
Pick Schalke to win, maybe 2-1, and go through to the Champions League group stages.
Pick: Schalke
Odds: 2.29 @ William Hill
Stake: 7
Possible profit: 9.03
Event date: 27 August
