On Wednesday, Greek side Panathinaikos welcome French club Olympique Marseille to Leoforos Alexandras Stadium for the first leg of their UEFA Champions League qualifier.
Panathinaikos booked their place in the third qualifying round with a 5-3 aggregate victory over Ukrainian team Dnipro-1.
⚽️☀️ pic.twitter.com/igiMZHpQuc— Olympique de Marseille (@OM_Officiel) August 7, 2023
⚽️☀️ pic.twitter.com/igiMZHpQuc
Marseille, on the other hand, enter qualifying in the third round after finishing third in Ligue 1 last season – 11 points shy of the top two.
Panathinaikos claimed a 3-1 win against Dnipro in the first leg, as Andraz Sporar, Filip Duricic and Fotis Ioannidis converted the visitors’ three shots on target.
The Ukrainians gave it their all in the second leg but could only draw 2-2, with Sporar bagging a brace to send Panathinaikos into the third round.
Panathinaikos enjoyed an impressive pre-season before dispatching Dnipro, losing just one of their seven warm-up matches while registering five wins.
The 2023-24 Greek Super League campaign gets underway next week, and Panathinaikos will aim to build on last season’s second-place finish.
As for Marseille, they have experienced a mixed bag of results during pre-season, recording two wins and two losses along the way.
Following a 2-0 win against Nimes, OM suffered a 1-0 defeat to Eupen before defeating Waalwijk 1-0, with a 2-1 loss against Bayer Leverkusen coming last time out.
It is also worth noting that Marseille lost four of their final five Ligue 1 matches last term, having enjoyed an eight-game unbeaten streak across March and April.
Having finished bottom of their Champions League group last season, Marseille will be eager to make amends and enjoy success on the European stage this time around.
Head-to-head: Wednesday’s clash is the first-ever meeting between Panathinaikos and Marseille, meaning there are no previous results to analyse for this fixture.
Team news: Panathinaikos have been busy in the transfers market this summer, bringing in Tonny Vilhena, Erik Palmer-Brown, Zeca, Filip Mladenovic and Filip Djuricic.
Marseille have also made a number of signings, including Iliman Ndiaye, Ismaila Sarr, Renan Lodi, Ruslan Malinovskyi, Geoffrey Kondogbia and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Although Panathinaikos have the home advantage on Wednesday, Marseille have more than enough quality to gain a first-leg lead.
With that in mind, Forebet predicts that Marseille to clinch a narrow victory over Panathinaikos, keeping a clean sheet in the process.