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Steffen Schmidt - July 24, 2023
SC Dnipro-1 vs Panathinaikos
UEFA Champions League Qualification
Date: 25 July 2023, Tuesday
Kick-off at 19:00 UK / 20:00 CET
Venue: Kosicka fudbalova arena (Kosice).
Panathinaikos return to the UEFA Champions League after a long eight-year break, following their runners-up finish in the previous term of Greek Super League.
They will begin the new European adventure on Tuesday evening with the trip to Kosice in Slovakia where they will take on Ukrainian runners-up SC Dnipro-1 on the neutral venue in the first leg of the second qualifying round.
The Greeks have played seven friendlies this summer, winning five along the way. Their lone loss came in the last check as PAO fell 0-1 to Spanish La Liga side Rayo Vallecano seven days ago.
Panathinaikos were in Europe last year as well when they fell 1-3 on aggregate to Slavia Prague in the third qualifying round of UEFA Conference League.
Dnipro-1 were only founded in 2015 as a sort of a successor of FC Dnipro (not officially, though).
Last year, they have made it to Europe for the first time since the foundation. After the elimination to AEK Larnaca in the UEFA Europa League playoffs, the Ukrainians came second in their respective Conference League group to get eliminated once again by AEK Larnaca in the last 32 round of the competition.
Dnipro-1 have a genuine star in their ranks in the like of Artem Dovbyk who was the Ukrainian Premier League top scorer for last season with 24 goals to his name.
Dovbyk was also on target in his team’s final preseason test last week against Kryvbas KR. Head coach Oleksandr Kucher was not happy with his team’s defensive showing on the occasion, though, as Dnipro-1 shipped two goals in a stalemate seven days ago.
Panathinaikos have a very strong roster with the likes of Andraz Sporar, Alexander Jeremejeff, Tommy Vilhena, Filip Djuricic, Zeca, Tin Jedvaj, etc. and we believe they should have what it takes to see off SC Dnipro-1 and gain advantage after the first leg on Tuesday.
The main pick is away win at the 2.45 odds while we also like the Both Teams To Score option at the odds of 1.91.
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