The European journey continues for The New Saints and, as we hit the business end of the league phase in the UEFA Conference League, the penultimate batch of fixtures sees the top-flight Greek side, Panathinaikos, visit Shrewsbury Town’s New Meadow.
With both clubs still in with a shout as far as progression is concerned – Panathinaikos are just on the right side of the line in 24th, with four points, while TNS has three points, and sits in 29th – there’s plenty to play for, ahead of the MD5 encounter, which gets underway at 8.00 p.m. (UK time) on Thursday, December 12.
The champions of Wales’ points came courtesy of a 2-0 victory against Astana (Kazakhstan) back in October, while the Super League Greece side beat HJK Helsinki (Finland) 1-0 and drew 1-1 with FK Borac Banja Luka (Bosnia).
Founded in 1908 – the year that saw Henry Ford’s Model T launched, Ernest Shackleton set sail for Antarctica and the birth of both Feyenoord and Inter Milan – The Greens have won the Greek top-flight league on twenty occasions and have also lifted the Greek Cup twenty times as well.
Last time round though, as far as the former is concerned, they finished fourth in a fourteen-team league. It was very close, however, and they ended the campaign just four points behind current champions, PAOK.
Rui Vitória’s side travels to Shrewsbury with a wealth of experience within its ranks, including defender, Tin Jedvaj, who was part of the Croatian squad that reached the 2018 World Cup final, Brazilian, Tetê, who has played for Leicester City in the English Premier League and Tonny Vilhena, who has represented Netherlands from U-15s through to full international status.
The official UEFA statistics have The New Saints at 27% for the win, Panathinaikos at 69% and 4% for the draw.
The officials for the game are all from Finland: Jukka Honkanen and Olli Jantunen (assistant referees) and Antti Munukka (fourth official). At the time of writing, the referee has not been confirmed on the UEFA website. The Video Assistant Referees are from Italy: Gianluca Aureliano and Rosario Abisso.
You can purchase tickets for the game here and if you intend to follow the action via television, the various national broadcast partners can be found here.
