Stakes high for APOEL during Tottenham
Tottenham Hotspur FC have initial place in Group H sewn up, yet matchday 6 visitors APOEL FC will not be brief of proclivity as they bid to explain a UEFA Europa League mark for a spring.
• The London club – 3-0 winners in Cyprus on matchday two – reason a three-point pillow over second-placed Real Madrid CF, and will finish above a Spanish giants by trait of their higher head-to-head record.
• At a other finish of a table, APOEL are turn with Borussia Dortmund on dual points and, with both games between a sides carrying finished 1-1, it is all to play for. Dortmund finish during Madrid and in box both fixtures are drawn, Dortmund will be competent due to higher idea disproportion in all matches. If both teams win or remove afterwards a final ranking will count on a series of goals scored and conceded in these final dual games.
Match background
Tottenham
• Tottenham have reached a knockout rounds usually once before, in 2010/11.
• Having struggled during Wembley in Europe final season, Tottenham have won both matches during a track in Group H, prevalent 3-1 opposite both Dortmund and Madrid.
• Before violence Dortmund, Tottenham had won usually one of their prior 5 European home fixtures. They took usually 3 points from their 3 home organisation games in 2016/17, losing to AS Monaco FC (1-2) and Bayer 04 Leverkusen (0-1) before a 3-1 feat over PFC CSKA Moskva on matchday six.
• Harry Kane scored in both matches when Tottenham final played Cypriot opposition, in a figure of AEL Limassol FC in a 2014/15 UEFA Europa League play-offs. Spurs won 2-1 in Larnaca, Kane removing an 80th-minute clincher, before a 3-0 success during White Hart Lane in that a striker non-stop a scoring.
• That was Tottenham’s second tie opposite a bar from Cyprus, after a 7-2 total delight over Anorthosis Famagusta FC in a 2007/08 UEFA Cup initial turn (6-1 home, 1-1 away).
• This is Tottenham’s third time in a organisation theatre and a second incursion in as many seasons – a initial time they have managed uninterrupted European Cup campaigns.
• Twelve months ago Tottenham came third in their organisation and changed into a UEFA Europa League, where they fell 3-2 on total to KAA Gent in a turn of 32.
APOEL
• APOEL have mislaid one and drawn one on their travels in this season’s competition, going down 3-0 during Real Madrid on matchday one before a draw in Dortmund on matchday four.
• The Cypriot outfit were beaten 6-0 by Madrid final time out – their heaviest European home defeat.
• APOEL’s usually prior divided diversion opposite Premier League antithesis was a 2-2 pull during Chelsea FC in a 2009/10 organisation stage, APOEL surrogate Nenad Mirosavljević scoring an 87th-minute equaliser. The compare in Cyprus had finished 1-0 to a visitors.
• APOEL have mislaid 6 of their final 9 European divided fixtures. Moreover, they have never won divided in 13 UEFA Champions League matches, organisation theatre to final, yet they did pull 5 of their initial six; the pull in Dortmund on 1 Nov halted a six-game losing streak.
• APOEL have not won a compare in a UEFA Champions League, organisation theatre to final, given beating Olympique Lyonnais 1-0 in their turn of 16 second leg on 7 Mar 2012. Their successive record is D3 L10.
• The Nicosia bar are in a organisation theatre for a fourth time, carrying formerly competent in 2009/10, 2011/12 – when they went all a approach from second subordinate turn to quarter-finals, losing to Real Madrid – and 2014/15.
• Thwarted in a play-offs by FC København 12 months ago, APOEL went on to finish initial in their UEFA Europa League group, subsequently ousting Athletic Club 4-3 on total in a turn of 32 before losing to Anderlecht 1-0 both home and away in a final 16.
Coach and actor links
• Mauricio Pochettino faced APOEL in a 1996/97 UEFA Cup initial turn while personification for RCD Espanyol, a Spanish side winning 3-2 on total (2-2 away, 1-0 home).
• Hugo Lloris was in a Lyon organisation knocked out by APOEL in a 2011/12 UEFA Champions League turn of 16, bowing out after a 4-3 chastisement shoot-out better in Cyprus.
• Lorenzo Ebecilio was during AFC Ajax between 2010 and 2013, personification alongside Christian Eriksen, Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld.
• Igor De Camargo played alongside Vertonghen, Alderweireld and Mousa Dembélé with Belgium.
• Vertonghen and Alderweireld were in a Belgium side that beat Cyprus 5-0 during home in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying, Giorgos Merkis and Antreas Makris appearing for a visitors. Makris, Vertonghen and Alderweireld also featured in Belgium’s 1-0 feat in Cyprus.
• Nektarios Alexandrou, George Efrem and surrogate Makris were in a Cyprus organisation beaten 3-0 by Belgium in 2018 FIFA World Cup subordinate in Sep 2016; Vertonghen and Alderweireld played for Belgium.
• Serge Aurier was an new underling as Paris Saint-Germain won 1-0 in both Cyprus and France opposite APOEL in a 2014/15 UEFA Champions League organisation stage. Carlão, George Efrem, Vinicius, Nuno Morais, Nicholas Ioannou and Stathis Aloneftis figured for APOEL.
• Ben Davies helped Wales to a 1-0 UEFA EURO 2016 subordinate win opposite Makris’s Cyprus in Sep 2015.
• Boy Waterman transposed Michel Vorm as a surrogate for a Netherlands Under-21 side opposite England on 14 Feb 2004.
• Efrem is a product of a Arsenal academy.