Vikingur Reykjavik vs Panathinaikos prediction: EUROPE: Conference League – Play Offs betting tips on match 2025-02-12 17:45.
[p]After finishing 19th in the inaugural league phase of the UEFA Conference League, Víkingur Reykjavík are in uncharted territory ahead of this their first knockout stage experience of a European competition. Manager Sölvi Ottesen will be hoping their remarkable journey doesn’t stop here, and having claimed six of their eight league phase points at home, he should be hopeful of a positive result in the first leg of their play-off against Panathinaikos.[/p]
[p]This will be the former Icelandic international’s first experience of leading the club in Europe after he stepped up following the departure of Arnar Gunnlaugsson to become manager of the international team last month. But with no wins from their final three games in the league phase (D2, L1), Víkingur need a drastic change of form to give themselves a chance heading into next week’s second leg.[/p]
[p]They could do worse than look at their opponents for an example of a results turnaround in the Conference League as Panathinaikos took only one point from their first three games. The Greek side then enjoyed successive victories over HJK, TNS and Dinamo Minsk, all accompanied by clean-sheets, and climbed the table to finish 13th.[/p]
[p]All of those wins came during a fine run of form which saw the Greek side go unbeaten across all competitions in 17 matches (W13, D4) from mid-November to the start of this month. However Head coach Rui Vitória has since seen his side beaten in back-to-back games, failing to score in both, and perhaps the most concerning aspect for him will be that both also came on the road.[/p]
[p]Players to watch: Daníel Hafsteinsson opened the scoring on his Víkingur debut in the league cup last week and he also impressed in the Conference League qualifiers last season, getting two goals and an assist for Akureyri. Fotis Ioannidis found the net in both of the last two league phase games before Christmas, scoring the final goal of the match each time.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Panathinaikos led 1-0 at half-time in all three of their away fixtures during the league phase of this competition (W1, D1, L1).[/p]
[p][i]Written by Tom Penn[/i][/p]