Anorthosis 'living a dream' after triumph
Thursday, August 28, 2008
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Playing in the group stage will be "an absolute dream" for Temuri Ketsbaia, but the Anorthosis Famagusta FC coach feels his burgeoning team are there on merit.
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Heavy losses
Once the whipping boys of Europe, Cypriot teams are experiencing a new dawn, banishing memories of the 16-1 loss suffered by APOEL FC against Sporting Clube de Portugal in 1963 and Anorthosis's 10-0 reverse at the hands of FC Bayern München during the 1983/84 UEFA Cup campaign. Success has hardly come overnight, however, with both Anorthosis and APOEL coming close to the group stage in recent years and the national team picking up impressive results in major tournament qualifiers.
'Absolute dream'
"This is a wonderful night for Anorthosis and Cyprus," said Ketsbaia, whose side lost 1-0 in Piraeus after triumphing 3-0 in the home leg. "For a team from a nation as small as Cyprus and with a budget as small as ours to get into the Champions League is an absolute dream. But dreams need work. In football, you don't achieve your dreams by going to bed at night and waking up in the morning to discover that you are in the Champions League. You need to work and that's what we will continue to do now that we are in the group stage."
'Celebrations in order'
Around 4,000 fans swamped Larnaca Airport in the early hours of Thursday morning to get a glimpse of their returning heroes. "It still hasn't sunk in," said defender Andreas Konstantinou, whose side overcame FC Pyunik and SK Rapid Wien in the previous qualifying rounds. "We are living a dream. For a lot of us, this could be our one and only chance of playing in the Champions League so we need to savour this moment. I think celebrations are in order but we will then need to get our feet back on the ground and concentrate on our upcoming league game."
Player bonus
The players will also be buoyed by a €1m bonus from club president Andreas Pantelis, to be shared among the squad. "I would like to thank the players, the coaches, our associates and all those who helped Anorthosis achieve this remarkable triumph," explained Pantelis. "Some people have told me that they were surprised that the chairman of a club would travel in the coach with the players. Never mind the coach; I will go by bicycle if need be." Every single Anorthosis fan must be feeling the same way as their remarkable adventure continues.
