By Andreas Vou
Despite another excellent display against one of the continent’s strongest sides, APOEL were left bitterly disappointed as they went down to a 0-1 defeat at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain following a late Edinson Cavani goal on Tuesday night.
APOEL more than held their own against the riches of talent that their opponents possessed and had the clearer chances of the two sides to win the match but Cavani’s clever finish on 87 minutes inflicted a cruel defeat on the Cypriots, making qualification to the next round of the Champions League highly unlikely.
APOEL boss Giorgos Donis made just one change to the starting lineup which faced Ajax two weeks ago, an enforced one, as Giorgos Efrem replaced the injured Stathis Aloneftis.
Efrem started the game brightly and managed to create the first real chance of the game. Cillian Sheridan had a torrid evening in front of goal against the Dutch champions last time out and was keen to make amends. Efrem beat Gregory van der Wiel before crossing low towards the Irishman, but his effort was tipped wide by Salvatore Sirigu on seven minutes.
PSG’s starting eleven cost over €280 million but the difference in value of the two sets of players was not apparent as APOEL matched their French counterparts stride for stride.
When the starting lineups were announced, much was made about the fact that Thiago Silva and David Luiz’s starting together for the first time at PSG meant that they had become the world’s most expensive center-back pairing in history with €42 million and €50 million price tags respectively.
However, it was APOEL’s Brazilian duo Carlao and Guilherme who looked like it in the first-half, stopping everything that PSG’s armory had to throw at them.
Cavani for once caught Guilherme napping in the first minute of the second half, finding space to nod a Lucas Moura cross towards goal which was subsequently tipped over the bar by Urko Pardo.
Then, on 56 minutes, came the chance of the match. Manduca’s cross from the left found an unmarked Tiago Gomes who headed towards goal, only to see his effort cleared off the line by Luiz. It was an excellent recovery from the former Chelsea defender but Gomes would probably have given his side the lead had he made cleaner contact from his attempt which brushed off his shoulder towards goal.
It was APOEL again who threatened 12 minutes later – Sheridan springing the offside track before laying it off to Nuno Morais, who blazed over the bar from the edge of the box.
Though PSG controlled the game in large parts and dominated possession, they struggled to create any significant problems for APOEL’s disciplined defence and midfield.
It took until the 67th minute for PSG to muster their best opportunity on goal. Lucas Moura broke quickly on the right, cut inside his defender before striking with his weaker left foot just past the far post.
It is a tendency at the top level of the game that when a team fail to take their chances, they often get punished, especially against superior opposition. Donis’ men were to find that out in the cruelest of fashions as a hopeful cross into the box was not dealt with by the APOEL defenders, with the ball eventually squirming to Cavani who adjusted well to tuck the ball past Pardo to snatch all three points.
The defeat makes APOEL’s chances of progressing to the last-16 unlikely with just one point from three games. The Cypriots are bottom of Group F and will now aim for third place which will take them to the Europa League.
