Apoel, AEL and Anorthosis all advanced into the quarter-finals of the Cyprus Cup on Wednesday.
Champions Apoel won 2-1 at Nea Salamina to seal a 4-2 aggregate victory, while AEL, flying high in third place in the league, beat Aris 1-0 for a 3-0 aggregate win.
Anorthosis put five past Asil Lisis to cruise into the next round 7-0 on aggregate.
Champions APOEL clinched a 2-1 win over Nea Salamina after goals from Pieros Sotiriou and Stathis Aloneftis to advance 4-2 on aggregate from the Ammochostos Stadium. Dmitar Makriev scored a late consolation goal for Salamina.
The game was marred by problems in the stands and play was briefly stopped when a plastic up hit APOEL defender Nicholas Ioannou in the head.
AEL also moved into the next round after beating neighbours Aris 1-0 to go through 3-0 on aggregate. Ismael Sassi grabbed the winning goal on his debut.
Anorthosis made light work of ASIL after cruising to a 5-0 win over their second division opponents.
Wednesday night’s winners will now join Omonia, AEK Larnaca and Olympiakos Nicosia in the draw. The remaining fixtures – Apollon-AEZ and Doxa-Anagennises – will take place on February 1.
