Intelligence: Panathinaikos FC

With just six days to go here is a look at Greek Panathinaikos FC.

After six league games this season, Panathinaikos FC is placed 2^nd in Greece with 13 points and a solid goal score of 9-1. Saturday they play Levadiakos - 2^nd from the bottom of the table - away, most likely another three points. Opening the group on the 25^th October they beat Aberdeen 3-0 (UEFA.com / Ivanschitz inspires Panathinaikos win).

Panathinaikos FC is ranked #32 at the UEFA Team Ranking 2007. Last season their European campaign came to an end at the hands of... RC Lens who beat them 3-1 (UEFA.com / Lens advance after Athens shut-out). But the club is 99 years old, lost the European Cup final 0-2 to Ajax in 1971 and has a long pedigree of impressive results. Little reason for optimism.

D Salpingidis - D Papadopoulos

A Ivanschitz - S Ninis - E González - G Karagounis

A Seric - J Sarriegi - N Morris - L Vyntra

A Malarz

A quite unreliable guess made from browsing the roster, and recent news on their games. In particular, they seem to have several options for their midfield: Marcelo Mattos and Alexandros Tziolis may well take the place of Sotiris Ninis and Ezequiel Gonzalez. The defense may look very different too, but the Panathinaikos defenders generally doesn't carry as impressive price tags as the midfielders does.

Central defender Josu Sarriegui Zumárraga is a recent signing from Athletic Club Bilbao (UEFA.com / Panathinaikos strengthen defence), defensive midfielder Marcelo Mattos was bought in Corinthians in July (UEFA.com / Brazilian prodigy joins Panathinaikos) while Karagounis is a veteran returning home (UEFA.com / Karagounis returns to Panathinaikos). Austrian playmaker Andreas Ivanschitz has returned from injury only recently but is fit. Sotiris Ninis is a lad 17 years of age, still a ball boy a year ago (UEFA.com / From ball boy to star, UEFA.com / Ninis comes of age at Panathinaikos).

In Scotland, they are now licking their wounds:

[...] struggled to deal with the pace and trickery of Pana front pair Dame N'Doye and Dimitris Salpigidis [...] the talent of Ivanschitz, who provided the assists from two free-kicks and the killer pass for Dimitris Papadopoulos' goal which sandwiched strikes from Goumas and Dimitris Salpigidis. [...] "I think Dnipro [the team Aberdeen played in the first round] were a better footballing team but Panathinaikos got the goals and that's what mattered.
SEVERIN SEES POSITIVES IN DEFEAT

Dnipro a better team? Set-piece situations? Baaah! Now the Scots count on beating us at home...