Baltazar and APOEL part ways
APOEL Nicosia announced the parting of ways with coach Bruno Baltazar on Monday. The 41-year old Portuguese took over last March during the playoffs, after Giorgos Donis was sacked and he turned things around, driving the team to their sixth consecutive championship.
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APOEL’s administration renewed his contract after helping the club win a 6th straight title, however he failed to produce the results expected of him to start the new campaign. It all started with an early elimination in the Champions League qualifiers against Suduva followed by falling to Astana in the Europa League playoffs.
In general the team was unconvincing on the field in their early season European matches. Despite the two eliminations, he remained in charge to start the league with APOEL, while in other occasions, president Prodromos Petrides did not hesitate to fire a coach.
On Sunday, APOEL started their season against Ermis Aradippou, managing to win with a narrow 1:0 scoreline. Once again, Baltazar’s side was mediocre, even being outplayed for some periods by a more determined Ermis. During stoppage time, the players and coaching staff from both teams had a clash after an incident between APOEL’s Praxitelis Vouros and Ermis’ Sekou Keita. Baltazar was involved in the fight and was therefore sent off by the referee. That was meant to be his last game as APOEL’s coach being given the ax on Monday.
Baltazar paid the price for not building a strong team and failing to fulfill the high expectations held from both the administration and the fans.
In 16 games as APOEL’s coach, Baltazar registered 9 wins, 2 draws and 5 defeats. Until a new coach is appointed, longtime member of APOEL’s coaching staff, Giorgos Kostis will guide the team from the bench starting with a postponed fixture from Matchday one against Nea Salamina this Wednesday.
by Marios Antoniou
Image Source: .gr
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