Just three days after the hard-fought European battle against Brann, PAOK were called upon to give it another go. Facing them this time was fourth-placed Levadiakos, who were determined to get another positive result.

PAOK came into the match looking strong, pressed high, forced their opponents into mistakes and had two good chances, first with Magomed Ozdoev and then with Andrija Zivkovic shooting but missing the target.

The home side quickly regained their balance, became solid in defence and looked for a counter-attack. And in such effort, Verbic sent a shot goalwards in the 10th minute, and the ball bounced off Kedziora and ended up in the feet of Kostis, who scored with a powerful effort that also took a deflection to make it 1-0.

Ozbolt and Ivanusec both had a good chance apiece but no goal to show for it, but there was a crucial strike right at the end of the half to make the score 1-1. It came from the head of Ozdoev , who nodded in from an Ivanusec corner.

PAOK came out strong in the second half and had a good moment with A. Zivkovic, which was cleared by Lodygin, with Levadiakos then finding a way to punish PAOK again. In the 50th minute, Palacios crossed the ball to Verbic and he sent the ball into the back of net for 2-1.

Five minutes later, PAOK had the answer and were on level terms. Again it came from a corner kick by Ivanusec, with Lovren finding Ozdoev who managed to score for the second time in the match to make it 2-2 in the 55th minute.

In the 63rd minute, Taison fired a shot on goal, a Levadiakos player seemed to block it with an elbow, but match referee Sidiropoulos waved play on, in a decision that brought protests from the PAOK bench.

Those protests became more intense in the 77th minute when Sidiropoulos directly sent off Meite , despite the fact that VAR called him to check the phase of play.

However, PAOK did not give up even with 10 players, gave their all on the pitch and were vindicated in the last minute of normal time. Taison went on the counterattack, the home defenders were unable to stop him, and he released the ball at the right time to Giakoumakis, who applied a perfect finish to make it 3-2 to PAOK and spark jubilant scenes of celebrations among the away fans.

Team lineups:

Levadiakos: Lodygin, Tsapras, Liagas, Magnusson, Vichos, Kostis (90+1′ Manthatis), Tsokai, Palacios, Balci (66′ Tsipola), Verbic (83′ Pedroso), Ozbolt

PAOK: Pavlenka, Kenny, Kedziora (60′ Michailides), Lovren, Taylor (60′ Baba), Ozdoev (73′ Bianco), Meite, A. Zivkovic, Ivanusec (60′ Despodov – 83′ Kamara), Taison, Giakoumakis.