Cypriot champions AEL FC take on Serbian giants FK Partizan Belgrade in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round on Wednesday evening at Larnaca’s Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, with the kick-off scheduled for 8.45pm.

“Partizan is a quality team with many experienced players. We respect them, but we do not give up in advance,” said AEL’s manager Pambos Christodoulou who has a full squad to choose from.

“The first game is in front of our fans and I believe that we have a group of players on our team who can defeat any opposition. Our main characteristic is that we are thirsty for success and this makes the chances of us or the Serbians progressing split in half.”

AEL’s Angolan defender Marko Airosa agreed with his manager: “We have a very difficult game ahead of us, but we will definitely try to win it. The result is very important to us and we will do our best to be ready for the task ahead.”

FK Partizan’s manager Vladimir Vermezovic cannot count on Eduardo Pacheco, Marko Scepovic and Branko Pauljevic who are all out injured, while his only selection dilemma is who will partner Sasa Markovic in the middle of the park, with Sasa Ilic and Goran Lovre being considered.

Stefan Babovic is expected to retain the same attacking midfielder role he held against the Maltese champions in the previous qualifying round.

“It is hard to tell who will win. AEL are a very difficult opponent and they should not be underestimated, ” commented Vermezovic. “This is something I have urged my players not to do. Regardless of the final score the game will technically not be a draw as there is also the second leg next week in Belgrade.

“I would not want to predict the score since in European competitions each game is very different. The only result I would want to avoid is a goalless draw and it would be absolutely perfect if we manage to score at least one goal,” he added.

“We have watched a couple of AEL’s games and collected plenty of information on them. The conclusion is that from Cyprus they only have the name of the team, as they have almost no relevant Cypriot players. I believe that everything will be much clearer for us after the first game,” Vermezovic concluded.

Cyprus Mail