APOEL faces Olympique Lyonnais for Champions League knockout stage

APOEL FC will tonight face Olympique Lyonnais for the Champions League knockout stage, after becoming the first Cypriot football club to reach the phase, finishing first in Group G.

Team coach Ivan Jovanovic said the club, which was considered the underdog, seeks a result which would give hopes for the second leg to be held in GSP stadium Nicosia on March 7.

”We would like to have a result which would give meaning to the second match. We would like the qualification to be determined in the second match,” he said.

The match will be held in Stade de Gerland in Lyon and will begin on 21:45 local time (19.45 GMT).

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.