Panathinaikos and PAOK in Europa League play-offs

Panathinaikos and PAOK scored victories on Thursday and advanced to the play-offs of the Europe League, while Panionios fell to Maccabi Tel Aviv in Athens.

Panathinaikos was clearly the better team in Baku and beat Qabala 2-1 on the night and 3-1 on aggregate to emphatically avenge its elimination from the same competition two years ago.

The Azeris escaped conceding a goal at the Greens' numerous first-half chances and even went ahead six minutes after the interval through a Rodrigo Moledo own goal.

Just as Lady Luck seemed to have turned its back on Panathinaikos, Robin Lod equalized with a spectacular volley 12 minutes later and substitute Bryan Cabezas gave the Greeks an elusive away win in Europe with a solo effort and a great left-foot shot, both goals coming within three minutes.

PAOK successfully handled the 1-1 first-leg score from Ukraine and beat...