Omonia hand APOEL title

APOEL clinched their 19th championship in their history over the weekend, thanks to their arch-rivals Omonia slipping up against relegation strugglers Olympiakos Nicosia.

APOEL did their bit by comfortably beating Ayia Napa 3-0 at the GSP Stadium on Saturday.

The champions opened the scoring early on with a well-placed shot from their inspiring captain Marinos Satsias. They doubled their lead in the 70th minute before the season’s top scorer Esteban Solari guaranteed the three points for APOEL when he converted a penalty 15 minutes before the end. The Argentinian now looks certain to claim the top spot in the Golden Boot competition as Saturday’s goal took his tally for the season to 20.

Omonia continued their run of dreadful form as they succumbed 2-1 to a spirited Olympiakos who climbed out of the relegation zone. Olympiakos took the lead through Argentinian Emerson Panigouti after Omonia were reduced to 10-men due to Vlatko Grozdanoski’s sending off. Greek forward Giorgos Vakouftsis managed to pull one back for the Greens before substitute Slazan Spasits scored the winner five minutes from time.

Omonia’s defeat signalled the beginning of a night of wild celebrations from APEOL fans that gathered outside their club’s headquarters in the centre of Nicosia to rejoice after capturing the title with three games remaining.

In the other shock result of the weekend, Digenis Morphou beat AEL 2-1 in Limassol to set up what should be a mouth-watering clash on the last day of the season against Olympiakos. Both teams are currently on 21 points, with the team from Nicosia in eleventh place due to superior goal difference.

Anorthosis Famagusta beat AEK for the second time in five days on Sunday and are just one point behind the Greens in the battle for second place that leads to qualification for the UEFA Cup. Timouri Ketsbaia’s team was comfortable throughout the match and ran out 3-0 winners.

Ethnicos Achnas guaranteed their status as a First Division club after beating AEP 1-0 away from home. Ethnicos missed a host of chances, especially in the first half and could have won by a greater margin.

In the remaining fixtures Enosis beat Apollon Limassol 1-0 on Saturday while Aris Limassol held Nea Salamina to a goalless draw on Sunday

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