With a place in the knockout stages of the Europa Conference League up for grabs, Panathinaikos will welcome Maccabi Haifa to Olympiako Stadio Spyros Louis on Thursday evening in the Europa League.

Both sides have already seen their chances of participating in UEFA's second-tier competition after the New Year end, but the pair could still be involved in European football in February.

Match preview

Panathinaikos arrived at the group stage of this year's Europa League with real ambitions of securing a top-two finish in a tricky-looking section, but the Greek giants' hopes of progressing in this particular tournament ended with a 3-2 loss against Marcelino Garcia's Villarreal on matchday five.

The La Liga hosts raced into a commanding three-goal lead after just 47 minutes courtesy of strikes from Alex Baena, Santi Comesana and Jose Luis Morales, with second-half notches from Sebastian Palacios and Fotis Ioannidis turning out to be merely consolations for the visitors at Estadio de la Ceramica.

Greek international Ioannidis has been one of the competition's most potent attackers so far but will be unable to add to his four goals in the Europa League following Thursday night's clash against Maccabi, with only Marseille's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Brighton & Hove Albion's Joao Pedro netting more than the 23-year-old in the group stage.

Ivan Jovanovic's men sit top of the Greek Super League standings after losing just two of their opening 13 domestic matches as they aim to pip AEK Athens to the 2023-24 crown - a team who managed to impressively overcome Roberto De Zerbi's Seagulls on matchday one in Group B.

The objective for Panathinaikos is simple on Thursday evening in front of their home supporters: avoiding defeat against Maccabi will be enough to secure a third-placed finish in Group F and subsequently hand the Greeks a ticket to the playoff round of the Conference League.

After failing to win any of their opening five contests in the section, it is truly last-chance saloon for Maccabi Haifa as they aim to keep their place in European football for the 2023-24 campaign, and Messay Dego's men have a clear weakness that they need to address in order to progress further.

Maccabi have only managed to make the net ripple on one occasion in five Europa League matches - courtesy of Abdoulaye Seck's opener in the 2-1 defeat to Villarreal on November 9 - meaning the Israeli outfit are the lowest scorers in the competition's group stage, one strike behind Swedish side Hacken who have bagged twice.

Despite a stuttering continental campaign in recent months, Dego's charges have begun to find their feet in the Israeli Premier League and are currently enjoying a five-match unbeaten streak, with Frantzdy Pierrot extending that spell as he equalised on Sunday to allow his side to draw 1-1 with Beitar Jerusalem.

Scoring has been less of an issue in domestic fixtures, but Maccabi have struggled to spread the offensive responsibility equally around their attacking options, with the aforementioned Pierrot, former Queens Park Rangers man Tjaronn Chery and Dia Saba being the only players who have netted more than once this season.

Only a win will be enough to see the Greens of Maccabi progress into the knockout stages of the Conference League after the New Year, but the visitors' last away win in Europe was back in August, when they bested Slovan Bratislava 2-1 in the third round of Champions League qualifying.

Team News

Panathinaikos will be without the services of centre-back Hordur Magnusson after the 30-year-old sustained a cruciate ligament injury in September, which is expected to keep him sidelined for the entire campaign.

A shorter-term absentee for the Greek side is ex-Manchester City youngster Erik Palmer-Brown, who is a doubt for Thursday evening having not featured in over two months.

Filip Djuricic played 64 minutes of his side's 4-0 mauling of OFI Crete on December 3, but the Serbian has since picked up a calf strain and could miss this one.

Maccabi Haifa are expected to make some attacking changes to the side which drew 0-0 against Villarreal last time out in Europe, meaning leading marksman Pierrot and Suf Podgoreanu could be handed starting berths.

Anan Khalaili and Ali Mohamed were both substituted near the halfway point during the contest with the La Liga side, and the pair are unlikely to be in the XI in Greece.

Sharif Kaiuf's five-save display at Estadio de la Ceramica last time out was enough to hand the Israelis their second clean sheet of the group stage, so the 22-year-old should retain his spot in between the sticks.

Panathinaikos possible starting lineup:
Lodygin; Vagiannidis, Schenkeveld, Arao, Mladenovic; Perez, Vilhena, Palacios, Djuricic, Cantalapiedra; Ioannidis

Maccabi Haifa possible starting lineup:
Kaiuf; Sundgren, Gershon, Simic, Kandil; Hajaj, Cafunmama, Jaber; Podgoreanu, Pierrot, Refaelov

We say: Panathinaikos 2-1 Maccabi Haifa

With Panathinaikos knowing a point would be enough to secure Conference League football, the Greek hosts could be rather defensive in their approach on Thursday evening.

Maccabi Haifa will need to improve offensively in order to seal third spot, but we feel that a more expansive approach will lead to greater vulnerabilities at the back for the Greens.


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