PAOK @ Lamia Recap: PAOK Finish The Season Strong Against Resilient Lamia

What looked like an endless stalemate turned out to be a fantastic night for PAOK. After a few weeks of rotating starting lineups, Lucescu sent out a very strong 11 players tonight, minus Samatta. Here is what that looked like:

ST: Mbwana Samatta

LW: Taison

CAM: Giannis Konstantelias

RW: Andrija Zivkovic

CDM: Meite

CDM: Magomed Ozdoyev
LB: Baba Rahman

CB: Konstantinos Koulierakis

CB: Tomasz Kędziora

RB: Jonny Otto

GK: Dominik Kotarski

PAOK had almost all of the chances in the first half, barring a few Lamia counterattacks that were always unlikely to succeed, but the moment of the first half came in the 24’ minute. Baba Rahman, who had an excellent match, played a one-two with Konstantelias, which freed Rahman to put a ball in the six yard box. Rahman squared in Samatta better than anyone has ever been squared in their lives. Samatta, who was about two meters from the wide open net, directly in the center of the goal, hit the ball sideways, which eventually tumbled back in the arms of the keeper.

Ten minutes later, Samatta injured himself jumping up and down, and was taken out in place of Brandon Thomas. It has easily been one of the worst signings in PAOK’s history, and it doesn’t look to be getting better any time soon. One can only hope Brandon finds his form, because I don’t know if we can win the league with Samatta this regularly featured.

PAOK were a much improved side in the second half, and it became clear that the opener was coming. It took 71 minutes, but Taison eventually broke the deadlock with a beautiful low driven shot off his right foot, which nestled into the bottom left corner. Taison, who had played very well up until that point, definitely deserved this moment on the final matchday. 

Konstantelias was subbed off in the 84’ minute, and received a very nice reception from the Lamia home crowd, who were hoping to see their side make the playoffs for the first time in its history. Konstantelias is Greece’s most promising talent, and arguably one of their best players already, so it was nice to see him get a reception like that away from Toumba. I think more of that in Greece would be nice.

In the 92’ minute, a Brandon pass found Baba Rahman, who had ended up in a center forward position with his back turned to the goal, and he expertly found the far corner to seal the match for PAOK. It was Baba’s first game back since the injury in the semi-final match, so this ended up being a great moment for him. 

The match ended 2-0 in favor of PAOK, who now sits on top of the league at the conclusion of the regular season, thanks to a 97th minute equalizer by Aris against AEK. This match also set up every player for the biggest match of the season so far, a European Round of 16 match against Dinamo Zagreb. 

PAOK will now fly to Zagreb and play them on Thursday in the first of two legs.