PAOK vs Marseille: The French club will be stronger in Greece

Marseille defeated PAOK in the first leg of their Conference League quarter-final 2-1. Will Razvan Lucescu’s side be able to make up ground in the upcoming game? We predict that the French will once again be closer to success!

PAOK are a Greek team that finished second in the domestic league for the last two seasons and now sit second in the table, 11 points behind the leader. The Black and Whites now have every reason to focus on their performance in the Conference League, where they have already reached the quarterfinals. In the last two rounds of the play-offs, Razvan Lucescu’s charges got past FC Midtjylland and FC Gent, which is a solid achievement but the Greeks suffered a 1-2 defeat away to Marseille in their first quarter-final game.

Marseille are having a decent season. In the last eight years, they have only once finished in the top 3 in the French championship, and now they are aiming to become the vice-champion of the country. Yes, they cannot afford to challenge PSG, but they are currently sitting in second place in the standings, which cannot make them happy. They are in great form at the moment, as evidenced by their seven successive wins in all competitions: they won four games in a row in Ligue 1, beat Qarabağ and Basel in the Conference League play-offs, and also beat PAOK 2-1 in their first leg - with Jerson sent off in the closing stages.

Marseille are having a great season as they have already reached an interim second place in the French Ligue 1 standings, and in the Conference League, they have already reached the quarterfinals, where the first game was also left to them. The White and Blues have now won seven straight games in all competitions, which confirms their excellent form, so it will be extremely difficult for the Greek team to turn the tide. With that in mind, we should bet on a Marseille win for 2.37.

Marseille and PAOK played well in their first encounter - 2-1, but we shouldn’t expect much goal-scoring activity in the return leg. With the Europa League semi-finals one step away, the price of any error will be too high to risk-taking rash actions. We will probably see the most cautious and closed confrontation with a minimum of goal feats, so the best option for the prediction seems to be Total Under (2) goals for 2.26.

Arkadiusz Milik is an experienced forward who has finally got used to the Marseille squad. He was productive last season but missed more than half of the league, but now he is more relaxed and looking productive. He has scored seven goals in Ligue 1 and, in both the Europa League and UEFA Champions League this season, he has featured in eight games, notching up eight goals. The 29-year-old is in good form, so you should consider betting on Arkadiusz Milik’s goal for 2.65.

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