Panathinaikos Athens vs Samsunspor Prediction & Picks - Europa League

Prediction published on 8/21/25, 10:39 AM  by Carlos Zabala | Modified on 9/30/25 at 10:08 AM in Europa League Picks

Turkish team Samsunspor has been absent from European competition for almost 30 years. After winning their first two matches of the new season's Turkish Super League, 2-1 against Genclerbirligi and 0-1 against Kocaelispor, Samsunspor faces an official European match in Greece against Greek side Panathinaikos. Samsunspor is a clear underdog with odds as high as +475 for a win on Thursday at the Athens Olympic Stadium.

Samsunspor has never appeared in the Europa League, while Panathinaikos has already appeared in the competition six times. The Greek runners-up, although they won't play their first league match of the new season until August 24, have already played four competitive matches this season.

Panathinaikos failed to make it past the first qualifying round to qualify for the Champions League, losing to Scottish side Rangers. Then, in a two-legged battle against the Ukrainian side Shakhtar, in a return leg in which 12 yellow cards were shown, with Mancini leading the penalty shootout, the Greek side survived the difficult test of the iconic Ukrainian team, composed mostly of Brazilians.