Anorthosis crush Rapid in Cyprus
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
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Anorthosis Famagusta FC 3-0 SK Rapid Wien
Ioannis Skopelitis and Lukasz Sosin were on target as the Austrian champions were overcome by Anorthosis.
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Cypriot title-holders Anorthosis Famagusta FC took a giant stride towards the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round with a 3-0 home victory over SK Rapid Wien.
Stirring night
Ioannis Skopelitis gave Anorthosis a 34th-minute lead against the run of play, before Lukasz Sosin's second-half double completed a stirring defeat of the Austrian champions in Larnaca. Rapid had controlled the early exchanges, with captain Steffen Hofmann dominating the midfield, but the vital first goal went to Temuri Ketsbaia's side. Midfielder Skopelitis took advantage of Rapid's failure to clear a long throw into their area by shooting powerfully past goalkeeper Georg Koch.
Sosin double
Moments after half-time it was 2-0, as striker Sosin raced on to Predrag Ocokoljic's long ball to steer his shot beyond Koch. Rapid were stung into action, with Markus Heikkinen and Veli Kavlak forcing saves from Anorthosis keeper Arian Beqaj. But the final word went to Anorthosis, in the second minute of stoppage time, when substitute Fábio Andrade set up Sosin to score again. Rapid will do well to retrieve the deficit in the second leg in Vienna on 6 August.