PAOK knocked out of Champions League despite drawing with Metalist
PAOK has been eliminated from the Champions League despite drawing the second leg of its preliminary tie against Ukrainian side Metalist Kharkiv on Wednesday.
Dimitris Salpigidis scored in the second half in Ukraine as PAOK drew 1-1 but the Thessaloniki side had lost the first leg of the third qualifying round tie 2-0.
The defeat means that PAOK goes into the Europa League competition.
There is, however, some hope for the Greeks that Metalist might be penalized by European soccer authorities. UEFA opened urgent disciplinary action Tuesday against the Ukrainian team after its sports director was implicated in a 2008 match-fixing case.
This means there is a chance Metalist could be expelled from the Champions League and replaced by PAOK.
