An incredible football story, one of those that can only be written in football is the one we see this year with APOEL. The pride of Cyprus and Greece, a team that shows the way for how with calm, composure, methodical work, everything is possible holds the ticket to the quarterfinals… APOEL, after throwing out Porto and Shakhtar, sent Lyon home. A team with a budget, just under 15m euros, has reached the "8" of the Champions League to prove that in the stadium, money does not speak, but the plan, the soul, the will and the dedication to what you have to fulfillments.
The answer of those who rushed to finish in Greece. The answer of Sakis Chiotis, the answer of Costas Charalambidis, my favorite player Gustavos Mantoukas, Oliveiras, Savvas Poursaitidis, Nektarios Alexandros. With them this magnificent course, the incredible Paulo Jorge and the "brain" Nuno Morais are the heroes of Megalonisos, who lead APOEL to the quarterfinals.
After the first game, it was honestly the first match that I was a bit upset about in this year's course of APOEL. Not because they lost, but because Ivan the Terrible may have overestimated the opponent's strength. Today APOEL was lucky to be ahead early, but this did not come by chance. Playing with two forwards, he constantly pressed the French defense, which could not bring additional players forward.
He went through moments of pressure at some point in the match, but if Ailton was more team-oriented at certain stages, he could easily have qualified from the regular season. However, it was worth the wait because the penalties may give a more epic character to this qualification. I just remind you that together with AEK they are the only ones from the Greek field who have qualified on penalties.
This was perhaps the only two days after several years in the Champions League. Apart from the qualification of APOEL, we had the "pentare" of Messi who put his stamp on another great record of the Champions League, since he is the first to achieve such a thing. Arsenal fought yesterday and almost made a big upset that would have been a victim of Milan again, which saw and suffered in order not to suffer a 3rd big accident in the history of the tournament. Even Benfica - Zenit had its own beauty with the Iberians qualifying.
In what other sport could the country with the top championship in the world, not have a team in the eight of the Champions League and Cyprus have its champion in the eight? But of course only in football, where everything is possible, which is why it is so popular.
As for Lyon, she got what she deserved. Monkeys like her with Dinamo Zagreb get paid along the way…
Source: Costas Miaoulis Sport-fm.gr