The Piraeus giants have guaranteed a spot in the Europa League’s knockout phase after pulling off a remarkable away win against Porto, with PAOK also improving their chances of achieving the same feat following their triumph over Slavia Plague.

Olympiacos defeated the Portuguese side 0-1 on Friday morning (AEDT) in the seventh matchday of the competition, moving to 12 points on the ladder and securing a finish in the playoffs.

The “red-whites” found the game’s lone goal in the 79th minute when young midfielder Christos Mouzakitis found teammate Ayoub El Kaabi inside the box, passing the ball across the box to the marksman as he guided the ball into the bottom left.

The strike was enough to secure all three points, putting them into 13th place and giving them the best chance possible to maybe even sneak into the top eight (which takes you directly to the Round of 16) in the competition’s final matchday.

PAOK has given themselves a huge chance of joining Olympiacos in the next phase after defeating Slavia Prague 2-0 at “Toumba” Stadium, increasing their tally to 10 points and occupying 17th place.

The Thessaloniki giants opened the scoring in the 26th minute when captain Stefan Schwab calmly deposited his penalty kick into the bottom left.

The hosts then doubled their advantage in the 56th minute, forcing a mistake at the back through some excellent pressing wherein Giannis Konstantelias dispossessed Oscar Dorley inside the box and then knocked the ball in from a tight angle off the right post.

The win marked PAOK’s third straight success in the competition, a run of form that has helped overturn a poor start to well and truly put them in a great position of qualifying for the knockout rounds.

They will have a huge away assignment in the final matchday against Real Sociedad to try and guarantee their spot in the next phase.