Club Brugge vs PAOK Thessaloniki Prediction & Betting Tips - Conference League

Prediction published on 11/04/2024, 06:34  by Daniel Ngulu in Conference League Predictions

Club Brugge will welcome high-flying PAOK for the first leg of their Europa Conference League quarterfinal tie this Thursday. The two sides will be putting aside their domestic league title campaigns to focus on this key game. For the hosts, it has been shaky lately, but they managed to bounce back with a 3-1 win over archrivals Anderlecht last time out. That win ended a two-match winless run, but a late concession soiled Club Brugge’s day. Raphael Onyedika scored a brace, adding to Brandon Mechele’s early goal for the comfortable win. To build on it, Brugge will hope to get their third clean sheet in 11 matches here. A win to accompany it will be welcome ahead of the return leg away from home. Four wins only in the last six matches, however, don’t place Club Brugge as a confident contender here. They will, however, take inspiration from their comeback to eliminate Molde 4-2 in the last round. The Belgians did it courtesy of a 3-0 home win, having lost away in Norway. In their last 12 Conference League matches, Club Brugge suffered just one loss. They have just four clean sheets though, in their last 13 matches in this competition.

PAOK are flying high this season. They are strong contenders for the Super League 1 title and will want to go the distance in the Conference League as well. Currently edging giants Panathinaikos AEK Athens and Olympiakos, their confidence should be really high. In a recent game they beat Panathinaikos away from home, and they come here right from a 2-2 draw with AEK. PAOK have scored at least twice in each of their last four matches, all totaling 13 goals. With a four-game unbeaten run, they are riding high and will feel they can get the first leg advantage. In the last round of this competition, PAOK did well to overturn a 2-0 first leg loss against Dinamo Zagreb. They managed a 5-1 home win in the return leg and will hope for a better start in Belgium. The loss in Zagreb is their only one in 15 Conference League matches. It also remains the only one in 11 matches in the competition that they failed to score. In six of the other 10, they scored at least three goals. However, they have just one clean sheet in their last 10 Conference League matches.