Ermis suffer Europa League exit from Young Boys

By Andreas Vou

Ermis Aradippou have been knocked out of the Europa League following a 0-2 defeat (0-3 aggregate) at the hands of BSC Young Boys at the Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium on Thursday night.

Their excellent campaign last season, in which they finished fourth in the league and came runners-up in the cup final, earned them their first ever qualification to a European competition.

However, Nicos Panayiotou’s side were unable to reverse the 1-0 deficit from the first-leg of the third qualifying round in Switzerland, losing comfortably to a far more experienced team in Cyprus to put an end to their debut campaign on the continent.

A 36th minute header from Young Boys midfielder Renato Steffen meant Ermis had to score three goals to be in with a chance of progressing. Any slim hope of a comeback however was further reduced when Paulinho was sent off early in the second half.

Young Boys capitalised on their numerical advantage and made it 0-2 through Michael Frey who sealed the tie just past the hour mark.

Omonia, on the other hand, defeated Metalurg 0-1 away from home to add to their 3-0 lead from the first-leg. A solitary goal from Nuno Assis capped off a comfortable tie and the Nicosia club will join Apollon and AEL in Friday’s draw for the play-off round.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.