AEL boss Jorge Costa has assured fans that his side has not flown out to Germany to play “a friendly” as they prepare to take on Borussia Monchengladbach in their penultimate Europa League Group C game.
AEL have just one point and sit bottom of their group needing two victories to have any slim chance of qualifying for the next stage.
“We have some players missing but we have to make do with the players that are fit”, the Portuguese coach told reporters in Germany yesterday. “It’s an important game and we are obliged to do our best and why not even take the victory. We need to fly the flag high in Europe and to play with dignity. This is not a friendly. We want to end our campaign in this competition in the best possible fashion.”
He added, “The players need to enjoy this game and give their all. Up until now, we have made some impressive performances but we have not gained the right amount of points.”
After Thursday night’s game against Borussia, the Limassol club will need to quickly regroup and prepare for a big Cypriot league clash against APOEL. But Cyprus international defender Dosa Junior says the APOEL game is the last thing on their mind at the moment.
“Right now we are only thinking about this game. APOEL comes later and it is not on our minds right now.”
Although no Cypriot side has defeated a Bundesliga side away – or indeed at home for that matter – the Limassol club will take heart from the fact that the last three visits of clubs from Cyprus to Germany ended in impressive draws.
In September 2008, Anorthosis Famagusta secured a creditable 0-0 draw away to Werder Bremen in their opening Champions League group game while APOEL – who were playing in the Europa League that same season – snatched a 1-1 draw at Schalke a month later after Helio Pinto put Ivan Jovanovic’s side into a sixth minute lead.
Last season, AEK Larnaca bounced back from a 5-0 drubbing at home to Schalke by earning a 0-0 draw in the second game at the Gelsenkirchen Stadium.
Before heading off to Germany, AEL will travel to Paphos to take on an AEP side recently hit with a three-point deduction by the Cyprus Football Association after failing to settle unpaid dues to former players.
Portuguese boss Costa will be missing towering fullback Edwin Ouon – who has so far scored their only goal in the group stage – for the game against Monchengladbach after he was sent off in the 2-0 defeat to Fenerbahce last week.
Prior to the 0-0 draw in Nicosia back in September, AEL had never faced German opposition while Monchengladbach did face EPA – who would later merge with Pezoporikos to form AEK Larnaca – winning 16-0 on aggregate in a 1970-71 European Cup encounter.
The game will be shown live on CyBC 2 at 22.05. The other game in the group will see runaway leaders Fenerbahce away to French side Marseille
Cyprus Weekly