HJK will face PAOK Thessaloniki in the opening of the Conference League. According to head coach Toni Korkekunnas, HJK will win all games, especially on their home field.
HJK’s work in the group stage of the Football Conference League begins on Thursday, when the Greek PAOK Thessaloniki arrives in Helsinki as a guest. The match is the first in HJK’s history in European games against a Greek team.
PAOK is one of the big clubs in Greece. It is usually always found at the top of the Greek league. However, Olympiakos has dominated the league, so there are only three championships from PAOK, most recently from the 2018–19 season. Last season, PAOK was fourth in the Greek league and is now fourth as the season is in the early stages.
The match is interesting for HJK’s Greek midfielder For Georgios Kanellopoulos, who will face his home team. Teammates have asked him about PAOK and he has shared his own information.
– The match will be tough. However, we know what we have to do with and without the ball. If we do the right things, we have a chance, Kanellopoulos said.
Also the head coach Toni Korkeakunnas emphasized that despite the match rush, HJk has had time to create plans for the opponent.
– We have a plan that gives us good opportunities. We are at home, where we have already beaten tough teams. We have to be brave and play our own game.
PAOK wants Ball control
Korkeakunnas reminded of the market value of the teams, which is 60 million for PAOK and 8 million for HJK.
– There are six A national team players from different countries and the same number of former national team players. Game-wise, they want possession in practically every game. There are skilled players on the wings and they come through the wings a lot. They also like to push hard.
Among others, an Austrian midfielder plays in PAOk Stefan Schwab and a Serbian winger Andrija Zivkovic.
Korkeakunnas hopes that the conditions will bring an advantage to HJK.
– It’s really hard to beat us here. It can be 35 degrees in away games, but it’s exotic even for Greek boys to come and slide on that mat. I hope it will rain tomorrow.
Korkeakunnas mentioned several times at the press conference that HJK always has two days to prepare for the next game. The match schedule is tight when the domestic league has its decision stages and the Conference League games start. However, HJK also has a Finnish-wide rink, so players can be recycled.
There are currently injury concerns in the topper department. Miro Tenho and Aapo Halme are on the sidelines and probably also in the national team, they did well against Denmark Matti Peltola.