Fastest Possible Start
Twenty seconds. That’s all it took. Kickoff, long clearance from Coosemans, Llansana wins the second ball, slides it to Mihajlo Cvetkovic in the box, and the Serb finishes with a firm left-footed strike past Pavlenka. Toumba Stadium barely had time to make noise before Anderlecht were already ahead.
Cvetkovic nearly had a second one soon after too — Sikan sprung him clean through around the quarter-hour mark, but he dragged the shot across goal and wide. Missed a good chance to make it two early. PAOK didn’t manage a proper look of their own until the 29th minute, when Konstantelias dribbled past a couple of defenders and squared for Taison, whose shot drifted just off target.
A Missed Penalty, a Disallowed Goal, and a Long Wait
Things got stranger from there. PAOK had a goal chalked off by VAR — Mythou’s effort ruled out for offside — and then, in the 36th minute, they were handed a way back into it: penalty. Georgios Michailidis stepped up. Missed it. Chance gone, and Anderlecht somehow stayed in front against the run of play for the rest of the half.
PAOK came out for the second half leaning heavily on their home crowd, throwing bodies forward, crossing ball after ball into the box. Anderlecht just weren’t giving anything up — Coosemans in particular had a strong night between the posts, and the visitors’ backline held firm through wave after wave of pressure. Cvetkovic thought he’d doubled his own tally in the 67th minute, but that one was ruled out too, offside again.
What It Means Next
Anderlecht head back to Belgium with a slim 1-0 aggregate lead and a genuinely impressive away performance under their belt — resilient, disciplined, clinical when it mattered in those opening twenty seconds. Vitor Bruno’s side will fancy their chances of finishing the job at home. For PAOK, there’s real frustration here: a missed penalty, a couple of disallowed goals, and a performance that deserved more than it got. The second leg is set for Anderlecht on Thursday, 13 August.
Match Summary
PAOK 0-1 Anderlecht UEFA Europa League, Third Qualifying Round, 1st Leg — Toumba Stadium, Thessaloniki, Greece Thursday, 6 August 2026 Referee: Juan Martínez Munuera
Goal: 1′ Mihajlo Cvetkovic (Anderlecht) 0-1 (assist: Eduard Llansana)
Missed penalty: Georgios Michailidis (PAOK), 36′
Result: Anderlecht win the first leg 1-0, taking a narrow aggregate lead into the second leg in Brussels on 13 August.
For live Europa League qualifying scores and coverage, visit fawanews. Full results and bracket at the official UEFA Europa League website.
