APOEL need just a point against Zenit St Petersburg tomorrow night to complete the unlikeliest of football fairytales and become the first Cypriot side to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League.
APOEL, considered competition minnows and rank outsiders to qualify from a group that includes teams who have all won the Europa League in the last four seasons, have been the talk of Europe so far this campaign, unbeaten in four games and top of Group G.
The Nicosia side is now within touching distance of joining the likes of Barcelona in securing their place in the draw for the knockout stages of Europe’s premier club competition.
The Cypriot club has managed draws in their two away games against Shakhtar Donetsk and Porto, while they have already beaten Zenit 2-1 in the opening fixture of the group in Nicosia, a match in which Gustavo Manduca scored one and provided the assist for the second.
The Brazilian, deemed surplus to requirements at AEK Athens in 2010 before moving to APOEL last summer, admits that games do not come much bigger than this.
“Everyone knows how important this game is. We need one point to qualify and we will try to get this in these next two games which are the most important of our lives. If we succeed, it will be the best moment in all of our careers as well as in the history of APOEL,” he told apoelfc.com.cy.
While coach Ivan Jovanovic sweats on the fitness of star forward Ailton Almeida, who has scored in three out of four games in Group G and has been the focal point of APOEL’s trademark counter-attacking play, Manduca’s knack of scoring crucial goals for APOEL in the Champions League this season could come in handy against Zenit in sub-zero temperatures tomorrow.
While the 31-year-old winger was on hand to score a 90th minute goal to give his side a 2-1 victory against Porto in their previous game, it appears that APOEL do not lose when he finds the net. In the 17 games that he has got on the score sheet, APOEL have failed to win only once.
Should APOEL follow the fate of the last nine sides to visit the Petrovski stadium in St Petersburg and come away from the 7pm kick-off empty handed, the 21-time Cyprus champions could still secure their place in the last 16 by the end of the night, depending on the result from the group’s other game.
Porto travel to Ukraine to face Shakhtar, and should the clash end in a draw, APOEL would be guaranteed a place in the last 16.
Dismissing APOEL as nothing more than Champions League pretenders, Russian international midfielder Roman Shirokov feels that as long as his team remain concentrated, defeating APOEL should not be too difficult.
“I think you can call us the group favourites now,” he told reporters after Zenit beat Shakhtar 1-0 in their previous fixture to stay in second place, just a point behind the Cypriots.
“We still have one more home game to play against this surprising team, but we must beat them and advance to the knockout round. We should have won our first match against them (in Cyprus) but just committed too many errors,” he added.
“Hopefully, we won’t make the same mistake this time.”
The Russians will be without striker Alexander Kerzhakov, the team’s leading scorer in the Russian league this season, who is sidelined with an ankle sprain, while influential Portugal winger Danny is still being troubled by a knee injury.
Greek defender Savvas Poursaitides picked up a knock as APOEL got back to winning ways in the league at the weekend against Ermis, which had followed two domestic games without a victory.
However he is expected to recover in time for tomorrow’s game. Jovanovic’s other first choice full back William Boaventura is out injured however.
