Panathinaikos begin their Europa League tonight in Bern at 22:00 (Cosmote Sport 2 – ANT1). Coach Christos Kontis and his team are aiming for a strong start in European competition while also putting an end to their recent run of poor results.

Kontis will be without Facundo Pellistri, who is still recovering from a muscle injury. He will also need to manage the accumulated fatigue of his players from recent matches. This has led him to consider making changes to the starting lineup to field a fresher team and provide stronger options from the bench when substitutions are needed.

Likely Changes in the Starting Lineup

The physical condition of Panathinaikos players in their recent derby convinced Coach Kontis that the lineup needs refreshing for tonight’s match against the Swiss side.

Accordingly, Kontis appears set to make several changes, introducing a substantial rotation to keep the team fresh tonight and in the matches ahead.

Goalkeeper Dragowski is expected to start, although Lafon is also competing for the position. There will likely be changes in central defense, with Ingason replacing Palmer-Brown alongside Touba. Fullback positions will see complete changes, with Calabria and Kyriakopoulos making way for Kotsiras and Mladenovic.

In midfield, changes are expected to be fewer. Chirivella and Cherin are likely to keep their starting spots, although Siopis is pushing to replace one of them. At the attacking midfielder (“number 10”) role, Vicente Taborda is the probable choice, marking his first start for Panathinaikos.

On the wings, Tete will start on the right in Pellistri’s absence, while Zarouris is currently ahead of Jurisic for the left side. Up front, Cyril Dessers, who has scored two goals in his two starts, will keep his place as the team’s striker.