When Cypriot league champions Apoel Nicosia were paired with FC
Porto, Shaktar Donetsk and Zenit St Petersburg (respective champions
from Portugal, Ukraine & Russia) their odds to make the knock-out stages were 35/1... i.e. highly
unfancied.
A win in their last group match on December 6th against a Shaktar Donetsk side with nothing to play for will ensure that, as group winners they will avoid European heavyweights such as Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich etc. in the knock-out stage.
The Apoel story is certainly the biggest Champions League footballing fairytale since Uefa started with the current format of the competition.
Over the past years the competition has lacked sparkle with the same teams classifying with a monotonous predictability and with the lesser seeded teams aiming for, at best a consolation spot in the Europa League.
The key to Apoel´s success is simple according to their Serbian coach Ivan Jovanovic. Tactical discipline, a mean defence and great team spirit are cited as the reasons for the teams progression in the Champions League despite having the smallest budget of all teams in the group stages (€17 million).
A win in their last group match on December 6th against a Shaktar Donetsk side with nothing to play for will ensure that, as group winners they will avoid European heavyweights such as Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich etc. in the knock-out stage.
The Apoel story is certainly the biggest Champions League footballing fairytale since Uefa started with the current format of the competition.
Over the past years the competition has lacked sparkle with the same teams classifying with a monotonous predictability and with the lesser seeded teams aiming for, at best a consolation spot in the Europa League.
The key to Apoel´s success is simple according to their Serbian coach Ivan Jovanovic. Tactical discipline, a mean defence and great team spirit are cited as the reasons for the teams progression in the Champions League despite having the smallest budget of all teams in the group stages (€17 million).
So whilst the final round of CL group stage games could potentially see the exit of footballing heavyweights such as Chelsea, Manchester United, Valencia, Manchester City...the Apoel story re-affirms that the game of football for all its business and marketing, brand presence etc. is a game of eleven sportsmen against eleven sportsmen and thankfully for its very own future, occasionally, very occasionally David does get to beat Goliath.
