Cypriot Minnows Look To Save Face Against European Giants.

Coming off a 3 goals deficit, apoel will be looking to play some football against real Madrid.

The first leg result did not come to a surprise to anyone, apoel managed to hold off Ronaldo and co for 74 minutes till the introduction of that Ricardo Kaka and Marcelo. Kaka was named man of the match by Goal.com as as he managed to set up benzema for the opening goal, and scored the second goal of the night.

Kaka 's introduction proved key in securing a win at the GSP stadium 

Real Madrid has a near perfect run in the champion’s league this season winning 8 of 9 games played. The only teams who have managed to score more than two goals against real Madrid this season are non other then Barcelona .yes thats how well the Blanco’s been playing this season. So there now the odd for Apoel to go pas real Madrid are now astronomical.

Ivan Jovanovich has heaped much praise on his players saying:

"Madrid are in the semi-finals; there is no question about that. I even believe that they will reach the final and, hopefully, win it," "It was very gratifying to play against a team like Real Madrid. We all saw firsthand what a quality side they are."You could say this game was a crowning moment for the fantastic campaign we produced this season in the competition."My players have done themselves proud throughout this campaign and once again against superior opponents like Madrid."

Apoel players will no doubt be excited to play at such a big stage 

Apoel have a been provided a great opportunity to  go head to head against a top European club, this is a great chance to test their abilities.  Apoel striker ailton Almeida will be relishing a chance to play against pepe and co, as he did the last time the two side met, let’s just hope we see a good game and apoel do manage to string a couple passes to test Iker Casilias (Apoel managed 0 attempts on goal in Nicosia) ,as everything on paper is indicating a one sided affair.  Cristiano Ronaldo will be looking to get on the score sheet and inflict more pain to the Cypriot side. The player had a torrid time when he visited the GSP Stadium. As the home fans chanted messi’s name almost every time he got a touch on the ball.

Possible Line Ups

Chiotis Poursaitidis, Kaka, Jorge, Boaventura Morais, Pinto Charalambidis, Marcinho, Manduca   Ailton

Casillas
Altintop, Pepe, Varane, Coentrao
Granero, Sahin
Callejon, Kaka, Ronaldo
Higuain

Final Verdict

Mourinho is likely to give the second string of players a chance, with varane and callejon looking to impress, .no doubt Renaldo will start as he will be looking to add to his goal tally.

Apoel coming in to the game with nothing to lose mentality and will be looking to take the game to the madridistas.

Real Madrid                                  Apoel Nicosia

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