PAOK hosts Benfica

PAOK hosts Benfica at the Stadio Toumbas in a game from the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League. In our football expert betting tips we are going to provide you with a preview for this fixture.

PAOK reached this phase of the Champions League qualifiers after a terrific win against Besiktas in the previous round. The Greek team once again had the luck to play at home, celebrating a stunning 3-1 win over the Istanbul giants. After just 30 minutes of playing PAOK already had three goals lead. Christos Tzolis scored twice past Ersin Destanoglu. Dimitris Pelkas added one more soon after this.

Just few days ago PAOK started with a win their new season in the Greek Super League 1 as well. Abel Ferreira’s team hosted Larissa at the Toumbas and achieved a 1-0 win. The 18-years old striker Christos Tzolis was once again the man to find the target. The talented teenager is already regarded as one of the best young talents in Greece at the moment.

Benfica will start their Champions League qualifiers from the third round. The visit to the Toumbas is going to be their first official game for the new season. In their last friendly match the Portuguese giants faced Ligue 1 side Rennes and celebrated a 2-0 win.

Benfica made some really strong moves on the summer transfer market. The club signed the Belgian defender Jan Vertonghen on a free transfer while they also paid 24 million euro for Almeria’s striker Darwin Nunez. 38 million euro in total were paid for the Brazilians Everton and Pedrinho, while Benfica also invested 15 million for Freiburg’s striker Luca Waldschmidt. As you can see – Benfica invested seriously before the start of the new season.

The most normal thing is to consider Benfica favourites against PAOK. The Portuguese club is among the heavyweights in European football, so the Greek side is going to need a lot of luck to defeat them.