AEL crash out in controversial fashion

AEL were left feeling hard done by after a controversial decision played a huge part in their 2-1 home defeat and subsequent Europa League exit at the hands of Austria Wien on Wednesday.

Following a 0-0 draw in Vienna last week, any win would have been good enough for the Cypriots.

But on 33 minutes came the defining moment of the tie. Wien forward Pires edged in front of Marco Airosa who subsequently barged his opponent, for which the referee awarded a penalty to the visitors and a red card to the AEL full-back.

While the red card may have been justified due to being the last defender, the decision to give a penalty was not, as the replays showed the point of contact to have been outside the box.

After clashes between players and coaching staff, which led to a ten-minute halt to the game, Raphael Holzhauser converted the spot-kick, meaning AEL needed two goals to overturn the tie.

Even with a man down, AEL managed to level the game on the hour-mark through Aldair, but the visitors struck late on to put the tie to bed.

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.