By George Georgakopoulos

Panathinaikos will need to overcome one of Tottenham Hotspur and Lazio in order to advance from the Europa League group stage, as the draw in Monaco proved rather unkind to the Greek team.

The pool that Friday's draw placed Panathinaikos in consists of Tottenham, Lazio and Maribor of Slovenia, in a set of teams that could have easily formed part of the Champions League group stage, too.

The top two teams of each group advance to the knockout stage of Europe's second-tier competition.

The Greens will play their opening group game against Maribor in Slovenia on September 20, with their second match at home against Tottenham on October 4, before two back-to-back games against Lazio.

The last game in the group for Panathinaikos will be at London's White Hart Lane on December 6.

Panathinaikos midfielder Pape Habib Sow warned: «Do not write us off just yet. We can go through. Everything is possible in soccer, we can beat Tottenham and Lazio."