APOEL braced for unchartered waters

APOEL Nicosia manager Ivan Jovanovic hopes his side continue to exceed expectations when they face Lyon in the Champions League on Tuesday.

The Cypriot side’s dream run culminated in progression after they topped Group G ahead of Zenit St. Petersburg and Porto.

Jovanovic hopes their giant-killing ways will continue when they face Ligue 1 outfit Lyon at Stade de Gerland in the last 16 on Tuesday.

“The real Champions League starts now,” the Serbian coach said. “We are now in the knockout stages. There is a lot at stake for us.”

“We did not expect to do so well and we have surpassed our preliminary objective in the competition.”

“Now we need to see where our limit lies. And I hope that we haven’t reached it yet, I really hope so.”

In order to reach the quarter-final stage APOEL must eliminate a side Jovanovic considers one of Europe’s best over the last decade.

“We are playing Lyon, a team who are, in my opinion, one of the top 10 clubs in Europe over the last 10 years.”

“They have real experience when it comes to the Champions League, because they have been very consistent over the last few years.”

“It is true that the outcome of the game will depend more on Lyon’s performance than on ours. Our objective is to make the return game count, to maintain our chances of qualification for the second game.”