PAOK vs Club Brugge KV Prediction (18.04.2024)

A place in the Europa Conference League semi finals is at stake and after a very tight first leg, it's still all to play for as PAOK host Club Brugge in the second leg of this tie. Few chances were created in the first game, but Brugge scored a goal, and have a 1-0 lead to bring with them to Greece for the second encounter.

PAOK didn't create too much last week, and they were happy to surrender the ball on quite a few occasions, which didn't surprise me given they were away but they are going to have to bring a different plan for this one. They have to win the game, being a goal down in the tie, so will need to be a lot more attacking.

With just one shot on target, and less than 40% of possession, they are not going to win this game if they repeat that. The good news for them is they've had a week off since the game, they didn't play at the weekend, so come here fresh and will no doubt have been working on their game plan.

I thought Brugge controlled the game for big parts last week, and looked fairly comfortable in it. But, are they going to regret not pushing harder to get the second goal? I do think they'll face a different PAOK here than what we saw in the first game, one that will give Brugge more to think about.

Brugge played on Sunday domestically, and won 3-0 at home against Antwerp, giving a more attacking display than we saw on Thursday, and showing they can be clinical. They don't need to come here and win, a draw would do, and they may come for that, but last week did work well, so expect them to try and control the game again.

I think the value in this game comes with the draw. Club Brugge don't need to go all out and win, they will be very careful I think. On top of that, I'm not sure PAOK have too much to offer in terms of breaking them down, so with that in mind, I will go with the draw, which would see Club Brugge into the semi finals.