European Football – Cypriot teams outnumber Greeks
Posted by evdomada on August 29, 2008
The Cypriots have outdone the Greeks this year in their European presence with outstanding results. Anorthosis are through to the group stage of the European Champions League, while Omonoia and APOEL are through to the next stage of the UEFA Cup.
For Greece only Panathinaikos are through to the group stage of the European Champions League and only Olympiakos will be in the next stage of the UEFA Cup. AEK and Aris unfortunately stumbled in their qualifiers and will no longer partake in the European competitions for this season.
Anorthosis Famagusta managed to push Olympiakos out of the Champions League for 2008/2009. It will be the first time in 12 years that Olympiakos will be absent from the tournament.
Anorthosis outplayed Olympiacks in the first leg in Cyprus managing a 3-0 victory against the Greek champions. For Olympiakos to have overcome this hurdle, they needed at least a 3-0 victory in Karaiskakis Stadium to force extra-time and then penalties; or a 4-0 win for outright victory. They managed to take 35 shots at the Anorthosis’ goal but only one was scored. The final 1-0 result for the Greeks was not enough.
Omonoia from Cyprus also managed to end AEK’s European adventures for 2008/2009. The Cypriots surprised the Greeks with a 0-1 victory in Athens and this morning were able to hold out for a 2-2 draw in Nicosia.
And the third Cypriot team to proceed to the next round of their European dream are APOEL who managed a 3-3 result away in extra-time and go through on the away goals ruling.
Aris unfortunately lost to Slaven this morning 2-0 and their 1-0 win in the first leg was not enough to get them through to the next round.
Here are the results of the Greek and Cypriot teams:
Champions League: Panathinaikos - Sparta Prague 1-0 (3-1 aggregate)
Champions League: Olympiakos – Anorthosis 1-0 (1-3 aggregate)
UEFA: Red Star - APOEL 3-3 (3-3 aggregate APOEL through on away goals)
UEFA: Omonoia - AEK 2-2 (3-2 aggregate)
UEFA: Slaven - Aris 2-0 (2-1 aggregate)
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