Jovanovic hails historic APOEL victory

Ivan Jovanovic labelled APOEL Nicosia’s Champions League round-of-16 victory over Lyon the ‘most important night in the club’s history’.

Lowly APOEL defeated Ligue 1 heavyweights Lyon 1-0 on Wednesday, levelling the aggregate scores 1-1 in their last-16 tie.

Extra-time failed to produce a winner at the GSP Stadium, before the Cypriot hosts ran out 4-3 winners in the penalty shootout, booking their place in the quarter-finals for the first time ever.

“This is the most important night in Apoel’s history; a big night for APOEL, the fans and Cypriot football,” Jovanovic said.

“We never believed that we would be where we are today.”

“But when you have players which so much confidence, then it is possible. When you have a stadium filled with fans like ours, then it is possible. This is fantastic for everyone.”

“The victory belongs to the players and the fans. We have worked hard for this.”

“Nothing makes you happier than seeing so many people rejoice from your achievement. I am delighted to have helped the APOEL fans enjoy such moments.”

After surprising Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk to win Group G, Jovanovic’s unheralded team went down 1-0 in the round-of-16 first leg at Lyon’s Stade de Gerland.

Despite the small margin, they were given little chance of progressing against a team which has featured regularly in the latter stages of the competition.

“I said before the tie that for us to advance, we needed the perfect game,” Jovanovic said.

“As they game went on, we showed we could withstand their pressure and therefore our hopes were alive.”

“But we needed to do a lot of running and be competitive in every battle. The 1-0 lead was brittle but for 120 minutes we continued to seek that extra goal.”

“The most important thing was that we were focused and determined. I won’t hide the fact that the players who took the penalties decided themselves to take them.”

Lyon coach Remi Garde made no secret of his dissatisfaction at suffering one of the biggest upsets in the recent history of the tournament.

“It was a big disappointment tonight, a setback,” he said.

“APOEL are not a big name, but as we saw, they deserved to be in the last 16 and even the last eight.”

“For me, it’s disappointing. You can imagine that no-one is satisfied tonight. However, being depressed won’t move us forwards.”