TOTTENHAMHOTSPUR.COM(^71)
Partizan Belgrade to set up a play-off
clash with FC Copenhagen for a place
in the group stage. A 1-0 defeat at the
Parken Stadium in the Danish capital
was a minor setback, as they fought
back for a famous 3-1 win in Nicosia.
To then be drawn against Chelsea, FC
Porto and Atletico Madrid in Group D of
the competition left players, supporters
and officials in dreamland!
And APOEL were more than a match
for their illustrious opponents. The
first-ever Champions League group
game for a Cypriot side saw them draw
0-0 at Atletico’s Vicente Calderon
stadium and only a Nicolas Anelka goal
separated them and Chelsea in Cyprus
on matchday two. APOEL’s first-ever
goal at this level came from Porto’s
Alvaro Pereira, who put through his
own net to give them the lead before
the Portuguese side hit back to win
2-1, and then won 1-0 in Nicosia two
weeks later.
A fifth-minute goal from Nenad
Mirosavljevic gave APOEL the lead at
home to Atletico in their penultimate
game in the group, but the visitors hit
back to draw – and it would prove to
be a crucial result. Despite APOEL’s
impressive 2-2 draw at Stamford
Bridge, thanks to goals from Marcin
Zewlakow and Mirosavljevic, the
Cypriot’s finished bottom of the group
but level on points with Atletico, who
came third and dropped into the Europa
League courtesy of that away goal in
Cyprus.
While APOEL were left ruing what
might have been, Atletico went on and
won the Europa League!
But two years later, tonight’s
opponents proved that campaign was
no fluke as they again reached the group
stage in 2011-12 and went all the way
to the quarter-finals. They defeated
Skenderbeu (Albania), Slovan Bratislava
(Slovakia) and Wisla Krakow (Poland)
to qualify for the group stage, where
they faced Shakhtar Donetsk, Zenit St
Petersburg and Porto again.
This time however, the experiences
of 2009-10 stood them in good stead.
Unbeaten in their first five matches –
including draws in all three away games
- APOEL not only qualified for the
knockout stages but topped the group
to achieve another first for Cypriot
football.
It didn’t stop there though as
they were paired against Olympique
Lyonnais in the last 16, losing the first
leg 1-0 in France before levelling the tie
with a 1-0 home win, Gustavo Manduca
on target. Goalkeeper Dionisios Chiotis
proved to be the hero, saving penalties
from Alexandre Lacazette and Michel
Bastos in the resulting shootout to put
APOEL through 4-3 on spotkicks. It is a
result which is regarded as the greatest
in APOEL’s history.
Similar to our own unexpected
run to the quarter-finals in 2010-11,
APOEL’s adventure was ended at the
quarter-final stage by Real Madrid.
Karim Benzama scored twice and Kaka
was also on target in a 3-0 win for the
Spaniards in the first leg in Nicosia and
although APOEL did score twice at
the Bernabeu in the return – through
Manduca and Esteban Solari – Madrid
won 5-2 to reach the semi-finals.
In recent years, APOEL have
struggled to hit those heights again
although they were back in the group
stage in 2014-15, finishing bottom of a
pool which contained Barcelona, PSG
and Ajax. And in the last two seasons,
they lost in the play-off round to FC
Astana and FC Copenhagen.
As we go into the final group game
of this season’s Champions League
this evening, APOEL only have two
points to their name but they have
come from two creditable draws with
Borussia Dortmund. Should they better
the German side’s result tonight, they
would take third place and a spot in
the Europa League knockout stages.Above:
Taking on
Lionel Messi
and Barcelona
in 2014-15TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR V APOEL FC