Europa League Qualifiers: Rijeka – PAOK 21/08/2025

Betting on goals

The Croatian champions appear weaker compared to last year and this has been evident from the very first matches. In the league they have won only one of their first three games, while in Europe they were eliminated by Ludogorets and struggled a lot against weak Shelbourne. They have the advantage of playing in a competitive rhythm but not in quality. I do not expect them to take many risks in this match. They have already seen how Wolfsberger’s defensive tactics neutralized PAOK’s attacking play and will likely follow the same path.

For PAOK, this is only their third official match of the season and the lack of rhythm was obvious in the first two. At this stage the team cannot take major risks, as they look vulnerable in defensive transitions. This makes their attack very conservative and predictable. Improvement is logical to expect in their overall play, but their approach will not change much.

The existence of a second leg and the match conditions point to a low-tempo and low-risk game, with the under having strong chances of being confirmed.