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Victories for Omonia, APOEL, Paphos and PAOK in "BookieCo"!
Tonight is a night of Juropa and Conferences with Cypriot and Greek interest.
It is a great achievement that three Cypriot teams are in the League Phase of the Conferences League. Their quest begins tonight. Omonia play at home against Vikingur Reykjavik. APOEL and Paphos have away assignments against Petrocub and Samrock Rovers respectively.
As for the Greek teams, Olympiacos hosts Braga for the 2nd round of the Europa League and PAOK hosts Steauawa.
Panathinaikos are in the Conferences League and start their away campaign against Borac Bania Luka.
The rest of the schedule is dominated by Porto-Manchester United.
We'll look at it all in more detail below...
Below you will see all the action in detail:
OMONIA-VIKINGUR REYKJAVIK (19:45)
Starting with a win... is what Homonia want in the renewed Conferences League. Against them is a team that is fighting to win the title in Iceland. The league there ends at the end of October. Vikingur are one of the most successful teams in the country, having won the Icelandic championship five times. However, Omonia are the favourites in the match and if they play seriously and with discipline they have the first say in the three points. The result will depend on Omonia's overall performance.
OLYMPIAKOS-BRAGA (19:45)
Olympiacos' opening match in the League Phase of the Europa League. The reds generally had a positive presence at the Groupama Stadium, but they paid for two defensive inactions and lost 2-0 to Lyon, again having some creative problems. If the Reds want to progress to the next stage, they need to show character and beat Braga tonight. It is worth remembering that the Portuguese team scored two goals from Bruma after 88 minutes to pull off an epic upset and beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-1!
PETROCUB-PAFOS FC (22:00)
Pafos' trip to the League Phase of the Conferences League starts in Moldova. They face the well-known Petrokub who were eliminated by APOEL earlier this summer. So for the record, Petrokub have not won a domestic title, while in Europe they played for the first time last season when they were eliminated by Osijek (1-1, 1-2) in the first qualifying round of the Europa League. Worth mentioning is the fact that from 1994 when it was founded until 2015 it changed its name 7 times (!) while not counting any title beyond two firsts in the country's second division league. At the moment they are in the lower positions in the standings and are not a team to be feared in this year's Paphos.
SHAMROCK ROVERS-APOEL (22:00)
APOEL will be on the road for the League Phase of the Conferences League as they face Samroq Rovers, by far the most successful Irish club.In their 125-year history, they have celebrated 21 league titles, 25 Cups and 18 Super Cups, with the last championship being won in 2023. It is worth noting that the Dublin side have plenty of competitive pace, with the Irish league currently in its 32nd round. A star of the team that needs special attention is Jack Byrne who, if you remember correctly, came through APOEL in 2020-22. But APOEL are used to getting away wins in Europe against much bigger opponents and they will try to do the same tonight.
BORAC BANJA LUKA - PANATHINAIKOS (22:00)
We got to know Borac Banja Luka better this summer and luck has brought them again against a Greek team. We recall that the Bosnians were eliminated by PAOK in the summer in the Champions League qualifiers, where the "Northern Double-Headed Eagle" came through with two wins (3-2 in Toumba and 1-0 in Bosnia). If the Greens want to advance to the new... Conferences League, they need to show character and escape with a double tonight.
PAOK-FCSB (22:00)
PAOK put on a good face and looked the pugilistic Galatasaray in the eye, but missed chances, conceded two "cheap" goals and eventually knew a 3-1 defeat, starting with... the left, their obligations in the League Phase of the Europa League. Against Ilias Charalambous' Steauawa Bucharest, they definitely need a win if they want to hope for qualification. Anyway, the most historic team in Romania, with a European trophy in their possession, in recent years with a willingness to make several investments in order to consolidate in European competitions. In the domestic league they have fallen far behind this season and will hardly stay at the top. In the Europa League premiere, the Romanians beat RFS 4-1 at home.