Panathinaikos vs Marseille

Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium is the venue as Panathinaikos and Marseille go head-to-head in the first leg of their Champions League third-round qualifying tie.

Panathinaikos’ first season in the Champions League was off to an impressive start as a 5-3 aggregate triumph over Ukrainian outfit Dnipro-1 fired them into the third qualifying round. But Panathinaikos must overcome a nasty hurdle in the shape of Marseille to reach the group stages for the first time since 2010/11. Panathinaikos’ only previous home meeting with French visitors in the Champions League yielded a 1-0 win over Lens in the 1998/99 group stages. That’s not the only reason for optimism in the ‘Greens’ camp, knowing they finished last season unbeaten in nine consecutive home outings in all competitions (W4, D5). Interestingly, all four wins in that sequence featured an identical 2-0 scoreline, suggesting Ivan Jovanovic’s side could lay the foundation for an unexpected progression if they can open the scoring.

Meanwhile, Igor Tudor’s Marseille couldn’t mount a title challenge in Ligue 1 last season. But they at least secured a third-place finish, getting a chance to qualify for the Champions League group stages for the second season on the trot. Unfortunately for the Croatian manager, it wasn’t enough to save his job, with ‘Les Olympiens’ appointing Marcelino as their new chief of staff at the end of last season. Marcelino’s managerial tenure has been off to a mixed start, with Marseille alternating between winning (2) and losing (2) across their four summer friendlies. Three of those four matches saw the winner on the day keep a clean sheet, highlighting the importance of breaking the deadlock.