Panathinaikos v Tottenham Europa League Match Preview

Tottenham’s second match in the Europa League Group Stage takes them to Athens to play Panathinaikos. Spurs have twice met Greek opposition in European competition – in 1972-73 they played Olympiakos in the 2nd Round of the UEFA Cup, winning 4 – 1 on aggregate. Last year they met PAOK Salonika in the Group stages of the Europa League. Spurs sent a young team which earned a very credible 0 – 0 draw in the away game but in the home match Spurs conceded two early goals  and lost 1 – 2.

The only time Tottenham and Panathinaikos have met was in a friendly in May, 1968 which ended 2 – 2 in Athens – Alan Gilzean scoring both goals for Spurs.

Panathinaikos

Panathinaikos is a supporter-owned football club, one of only two in Greece. They achieved this status last July as a fresh start with the fans in control following severe financial difficulties. They also had serious problems following riots at the local derby with Olympiakos last March when the Board resigned leaving the club rudderless for two months.

2011-12

Last season Panathinaikos finished second in the Greek Super League. They had qualified for the Champions League but lost in the Qualifying Round to Odense and then in the Europa League Play-off Round were beaten by Maccabi Tel Aviv.

During the summer the club had numerous changes in playing personnel with twelve players leaving but they signed seven to replace them.

2012-13

This season they defeated Motherwell in the Champions League, winning 5 – 0 on aggregate, but lost 2 – 0 to Malaga in the Play-off Round and so were included in the Europa League draw where they lost their first match to MV Maribor 0 – 3 in Slovenia. In the Greek Super League they have one win and three draws from five games and are in 12th position in the sixteen team league. They have scored only three goals in those five games but have also conceded only three.

The season opened with a single goal away win against Levadiakos. They drew their first home match 1 – 1 before losing away to Panthrakikos by the only goal of the match. Two further home draws followed, the last being scoreless against Asteras Tripolis on Saturday. They have four points, having been deducted two points because of the crowd trouble at last season’s local derby which was interrupted after 82 minutes and awarded to Olympiakos on a 3 – 0 score.

Panathinaikos are captained by former Glasgow Rangers and Newcastle United  defender, Jean-Alain Boumsong. He made 47 appearances for Newcastle in eighteen months with the club before joining Juventus in August, 2006. Eighteen months on, he signed for Lyon before moving to Greece two years ago.

Their leading scorers are striker Lazaros Christodoulopoulos and midfielder Charis Mavrias who have both scored two in the Champions League. Four other players have scored one goal each.

The three members of the coaching staff are from Portugal, led by Head Coach, Jesualdo Ferreira who was coach of Porto for four years until 2010, winning three successive League titles. He was succeeded at Porto by Andre Villas-Boas. After leaving Porto, Ferreira had a short unsuccessful period with Malaga and after being sacked in November, 2010 he took over at Panathinaikos, surviving the financial turmoil.

Tottenham

Tottenham, having drawn at home with Lazio, will be looking to improve their position in Group J of the Europa League against a team which has undergone considerable change in a short period and still appears to be finding its feet. Greek teams, however, are notoriously difficult to beat on home soil, so although the club is going through a transition period Tottenham will have to be at their best. It is to be assumed that Spurs will play a strong team with Hugo Lloris again replacing Brad Friedel. Any other changes may depend on the fitness of individual players but Kyle Naughton, Jake Livermore and Emmanuel Adebayor still remain out with injury so there may not be many alterations to the team which played at Old Trafford on Saturday.

A Totttenham win would set Spurs up nicely for this Europa League group and the double header matches against Maribor who are the current leaders and play Lazio tonight.