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Andrija Živkovic and Kirill Despodov have been involved in 73 goals in their joint presence at PAOK, yet they have not collaborated once to achieve a goal.
The coexistence of Andrija Zivkovic and Kirill Despodov has long been an intractable puzzle for Razvan Lucescu. The truth is that the “marriage” of two such quality wingers has not proven to be an easy task for the PAOK coach.
It is characteristic that the derby against Olympiakos was only the 6th game in which the Serbian and the Bulgarian started in the double-header lineup. As well as the fact that their simultaneous presence in the starting line-up did not “work” neither in the match against Olympiakos, nor in the previous three times when they were both main players in a match for the domestic competitions.
Two derbies and Lamia
In the league, the first time the starters played was in last year’s game against AEK at the “OPAP Arena”, on October 30, 2023, which was one of the few times that PAOK, who were in great shape at that time, were kept scoreless and defeated .
Razvan Lucescu tried again a few months later, in February 2024, having his two wingers together in his starting line-up in the first quarter-final of the Cup with Panathinaikos in Toumba, which the “greens” won. In the 64th minute, however, the PAOK coach made his first corrective move and that was the replacement of Despodov.
The Bulgarian played, just like on Sunday, just 45 minutes in the match for last year’s play offs against Lamia in Toumba in which he again started as a starter at the same time as Andrija Zivkovic.
It was the game in which the visitors opened the scoring and PAOK equalized in stoppage time in the half with a header from Yiannis Michailidis. And in that game, Despontov did not take the field for the second half as he was replaced by Tyson.
Better in Europe
Despodov and Zivkovic started two more times together in PAOK’s European games, things turned out differently as Zivkovic was the one who made a change in them. The truth is in Europe their coexistence developed better.
First up in Finland against Helsinki in last year’s Conference group, the match turned into a show for the Bulgarian who had a goal and an assist in the doubleheader’s upset win. The coexistence of the two lasted for 67 minutes, with Živković being substituted.
This year’s Europa League play-off tie away to Shamrock Rovers was the most productive for the two aces to start in the starting line-up, with Živkovic assisting Ozdoev to open the scoring and Despodov netting the final score. 2-0.
Be that as it may, the two PAOK footballers have co-existed on the pitch in 37 games – of which they were only in five and the two starters – but only for 910 minutes (an average of just under 25 minutes per game).
No joint involvement in goals
And it is characteristic of the difficulty in “finding” each other on the field that two footballers who, in their joint career, have provided the champions with 38 goals and 35 final passes – Živković 23 goals and 16 assists, 15 goals and 19 assists Despodov- have never once worked together to achieve a goal of one or the other.
Their only joint mention of a goal was PAOK’s 5th in a 5-1 triumph over Dinamo Zagreb in Tuba, with Despodov winning the penalty and Živkovic slotting it home.
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