Champions League Qualifying: Ajax vs PAOK Salonika
Published July 26, 2016 by Sol FH
The third qualifying round of the Champions League gets underway tonight at 19:45 GMT.
Ajax looks to get back into the Champions League in the upcoming season but they will have to get passed PAOK Salonika tonight in order to do so. Ajax are one of the strongest teams in the Champions League qualifying rounds and should make it to the top of the table quite easily.
Tonight will be the first challenge for new Ajax boss, Peter Bosz in a competitive match and all eyes will be on him to make sure that he takes this team back to the great level their fans are used to. Frank de Boer the longtime head coach of the Dutch club left after last season after losing the Eredivisie title by PSV Eindhoven. Bosz comes back to Holland after a short stint with Maccabi Tel Aviv the Israeli club, but he was unable to win any hardware with them last season either.
Last year Ajax was ousted from the Champions League group stage by Rapid Vienna in the same round as tonight's match and they hope that Bosz will be the key to renewing their success.
There are a few new players with Ajax including Heiko Westermann, Davidson Sanchez and Mateo Cassierra. They hope that these relatively young players will be just what the doctor ordered and will help take the team back to first place in the league and back into the Champions League running.
PAOK finished fourth in the Greek Super League last season and are not a very strong team by Champions League standards. They were able to squeeze into the running for a spot in the qualifying round after beating Panathinaikos and AEK Athens in the end-of-season playoff. They have brought in a few new players including Swansea midfielder Jose Canas and defender Fernando Varela. The squad has a new look after new coach Vladimir Ivic has fine-tuned virtually everything.
Champions League Qualifying Betting Markets
Ajax is definitely the outright favorites in this match at 1.61 for the win, while PAOK at 5.50. bet365 Sports is offering a number of pre-game bets and live in-play lines throughout the match. If you plan to bet, bet with Ajax and play some live lines too.
