APOEL and Anorthosis are on brink of reaching the Europa League third qualifying round on Thursday evening after recording confident victories in their second qualifying round first leg ties over Senica and Levadia Tallinn respectively.
After a 2-0 win over Senica of Slovakia in Nicosia last week, APOEL will be looking to keep their noses in front this evening at 8.30pm.
Apart from Canadian defender Michael Klukowski, who has not been registered for this stage of the competition, and Croatian forward Mario Budimir who is struggling with match fitness, Ivan Jovanovic will have a full squad to choose from.
“I am sure that we will face a different team in Slovakia. We have to stay down to earth, make sure we do not under-estimate them and try to win again,” he said.
“They will definitely have a different approach to the game than the one they had in Cyprus. We missed many opportunities in the first game, especially in the second half, and now we need to protect our lead. “This is football and everything is possible so we must forget the score from the first game and go for a win,” said APOEL president Phivos Erotokritou.
“The expectations are definitely high after last season’s success. It is a pleasant burden that we willingly accept. We believe in this team. Winning the first official game of the season surely lifted our spirits. I want to believe that we are even better than last season. All the newcomers have been perfectly integrated into our existing system and I am positive we are due another successful European campaign,” Erotokritou concluded.
Far more comfortable are Anorthosis who beat Estonians Levadia 3-1 in Tallinn and merely need to rubber-stamp their progress at the Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium in Larnaca.
“In the first game there were some aspects of our play that were good – however, there were others that need improvement.
“We worked hard to prepare and the players are a bit tired which is normal. I am confident that we will improve game after game,” said Anorthosis manager Ronny Levy.
“Our immediate goal now is to finish the job we started in Estonia. We got a good result from the first leg and we need to secure our progress into the next round of the qualifiers.
“Only then will we focus on our next opponent. There are no easy games and what is the most important is that we play the way we want and avoid injuries as much as realistically possible,” added Levy who has no injury worries for the 8pm clash.
Cyprus Mail
