AEK defeated its Israeli visitor 1-0 in Athens and will take a slim advantage to next Thursday’s return leg, to take place in Hungary.
The Athens team missed a number of chances before managing to score on the 50th minute with Filipe Relvas.
The hosts at the OPAP Arena tried to extend their lead, but are clearly not ready yet to last the whole 90 minutes.
In Azerbaijan Aris went down 2-1 to Araz, despite having taken the lead halfway through the second half.
A fabulous through-ball by substitute Giannis Gianniotas put Loren Moron clear and the Spaniard opened the score on the 66th minute.
However Araz fought back and found two holes in the Aris defense to turn things around and win 2-1, through goals by Felipe Santos on the 75th and Patrick Andrade on the 78th.
The second leg will take place next Thursday at the “Kleanthis Vikelidis” Stadium in Thessaloniki.