APOEL come from behind to defeat Olympiakos Nicosia

APOEL defeated local rivals Olympiakos Nicosia 4:2 at the GSP Stadium in a postponed fixture from matchday one. 

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Each team “owned” one half, with the visitors outplaying the hosts in the first half, but APOEL rose to the occasion and grabbed the win with a stellar second-half comeback. 

Olympiakos opened the scoring with Rafael Acosta and could have gone into half-time with a larger goal margin. The second half, though, was a different story as APOEL found the back of the net on four occasions. Lucas Souza equalized, with Giorgos Merkis, Dragan Mihajlovic, and Linus Hallenius adding their names to the scoresheet. A late screamer by Panagiotis Zachariou formed the final 4:2 scoreline. 

It is now two wins from two games for Kare Ingebrigtsen, who will be facing his toughest test on Sunday away to league leaders Anorthosis Famagusta. It will be the first matchup between these two teams this season. On the other hand, Olympiakos were by far the better side in the first half but were unable to score more goals, something that undoubtedly changed the fate of the game. 

APOEL are now third in the standings, six points behind first place. Olympiakos are eighth, eight points clear of the relegation zone, and four shy of the sixth place (qualification to playoff group). 

THE GAME 

Just before the quarter-hour mark, Giorgos Economides managed to steal the ball from Uros Matic outside APOEL’s penalty area, and the Cypriot midfielder provided an assist to Rafael Acosta, who scored despite Giorgos Merkis’ effort to stop the ball from passing the goal line. 

Two minutes later, APOEL touched the equalizer, however, Andrija Pavlovic’s shot shook Pavol Bajza’s left post and went out. In the 30th minute, it was Bajza who denied a close effort from Pavlovic, keeping the ball out with his feet. Olympiakos answered back with missed chances of their own as efforts from Favrice Kah, and Rogerio Da Silva went just wide of Vid Belec’s goal. Just before half-time, it was Belec’s left post that denied a goal from Mamadu Samba’s header with the hosts taking their lead into the half-time break. 

With the beginning of the second half, APOEL showed their willingness to get back into the game from the get-go. Musa Al-Taamari took the shot after a ball from Nikolas Ioannou, Bajza stopped it, and Al-Taamari’s rebound was impressively denied by Bajza once again. In the 48th minute, though, Al-Taamari opened the Olympiakos defense and provided the assist to Lucas Souza, whose shot found the back of the net for the equalizer. 

After the goal, APOEL took the upper hand in the game and started pressing their opponents in hopes of turning the match around. In the 57th minute, Ioannou came close with a personal effort as he dribbled through the Olympiakos defense, but Bajza was there again to deny his shot. 

Moments later, Ioannou sent the ball to Al-Taamari, who gave the header-assist to Merkis, and he finally beat Bajza with a header of his own to put APOEL ahead.

APOEL kept up the momentum, and in the 78th minute, Luka Mihajlovic added an insurance goal with an excellent shot. Linus Hallenius sealed the three points four minutes from time as the ball laid nicely in the penalty area, and he made no mistake to give APOEL a 4-1 lead. 

Panagiotis Zachariou added a stoppage-time consolation goal after founding himself with space outside APOEL’s penalty area and released a rocket that Belec could not stop, forming the final 4:2 scoreline. 

LINEUPS

APOEL (Kare Ingebrigtsen): 27. Vid Belec(GK), 7. Giorgos Efraim(Captain), 8. Lucas Souza, 10. Tomas De Vincenti, 11. Musa Al-Taamari(‘84 17. Antonio Jakolis), 14. Uros Matic(‘55 95. Alef), 20. Andrija Pavlovic(‘46 9. Linus Hallenius), 29. Praxitelis Vouros, 30. Giorgos Merkis, 44. Nikolas Ioannou, 91. Dragan Mihajlovic

Olympiakos Nicosia (Pambos Christodoulou): 91. Pavol Bajza(GK), 2. Paris Psaltis, 3. Sambinha, 5. Kiko(‘84 32. Evangelos Kyriakou), 6. Eyong Enoh(‘64 99. Jonathan Ayite), 7. Rogerio Silva, 8. Rafael Acosta, 10. Giorgos Economides(Captain), 11. Fabrice Kah(‘64 20. Panayiotis Zachariou), 31. Nani Soares, 93. Dylan Duventru

by Marios Antoniou

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