APOEL players have made no secret of their wish to avoid drawing Spanish giants Barcelona or Real Madrid in Friday’s draw for the Champions League quarter-finals, but coach Ivan Jovanovic did not reveal his own preferences.
After their dramatic penalty shootout victory over Lyon last week , the Nicosia side have been joined in the draw by Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Benfica, Chelsea, Marseille, AC Milan and Real Madrid.
Out of these seven possible opponents, APOEL’s players have been forthright in who they desperately do not want to see come up in the quarter-finals.
“For the next round I do not want Barcelona or Real, all the other teams are strong but we will continue to dream,” goal-scorer against Lyon Gustavo Manduca said, while shootout hero Dionisis Chiotis rather cheekily added that they wanted to avoid the Spanish pair until the final.
APOEL’s participation in the draw is welcomed not only by fans across Europe who love an underdog story. For UEFA and its president Michel Platini, APOEL’s fairytale campaign is evidence of the success of changes made to the format of qualification in 2009, which had the aim of making the competition more representative and accessible to clubs from smaller countries, who do not have the financial clout of Europe’s top leagues.
In a remarkable Champions League campaign this season, APOEL have not only made history by becoming the first Cypriot side to qualify beyond the group stages against all odds, but are now the only side in the quarter-final lineup that has never before played at this stage of the competition.
To add to that, the Cypriot champions come up against a wealth of European experience in the draw. Six of the seven sides have won the competition on 27 occasions between them, while Chelsea, the only team other than APOEL not to have won the Champions League, lost on penalties in the 2008 final.
This gives the club and Jovanovic a real sense of pride at having their name in the hat for the draw in Switzerland, which will include the pairings for the semi-finals as well.
“Certainly there will be more pride watching this draw because what we have done in reaching the quarters is my team’s greatest achievement,” Jovanovic said at a press conference on Thursday.
Asked which team he would like to face from his perspective as a coach, Jovanovic admitted that he did have his ideal scenario in mind.
“We are definitely anxious about the draw, we have preferences but I cannot say. What I will say is that it is a fantastic experience and a fantastic feeling to be in the top eight teams in Europe.”
