Cypriot clubs react to cup quarter final draw

The draw for the Cyprus Cup quarter-final stage took place on Thursday, with a derby between fierce rivals Apoel and Omonia being the most intriguing match of the pick.

Besides the derby between the two Nicosia giants, the other three fixtures include an encounter between Karmiotissa and Anorthosis Famagusta, an interesting match-up of title challengers AEL Limassol and Salamina, as well as a game between Ethnikos Achnas and Olympiakos.

Apoel press officer Nektarios Petevinos said that this game will delight neutrals more than it will the two sides participating in it.

“All of Cyprus will be happy for this clash. I don’t know how happy the two clubs are. It’s the classic derby between the two most successful sides in the competition. This could have been a final,” the Apoel man said.

“For us, the Cypriot cup is the only competition which depends on our performances so it’s a priority for us. We look forward to two good games and may the best man win. At the same time I hope this team is Apoel,” Petevinos added.

From the opposite camp, Omonia press officer Andreas Demetriou immediately touched on Apoel being very motivated to win on account of it being their last chance at a trophy this season.

“I will start with Apoel’s motivation to win the cup and this is something that we will definitely focus on and try to use to increase our sharpness in both games. These two games will be very intriguing for all football fans in Cyprus,” Demetriou said.

“I agree with Nektarios Petevinos. There will be two closely matched games but from the on we will try to prepare properly so that we are as ready as possible and fight for qualification to the next stage,” he added.

Ethnikos’ Marios Mitsides said that their game against Olympiakos is a good draw for the Achna club.

“It’s a positive draw. We avoided the bigger clubs. We are interested in the cup but we have to focus on avoiding relegation this season. We are in a difficult position but we want to keep going and give it everything we have,” Mitsides said.

Theodoros Antoniou, AEL’s director of football, did not delve into specificities.

“Whoever we ended up being drawn against would have our respect. Our objective is to go until the end and win the cup,” Antoniou said.

Demetris Lazos, Salamina’s press officer, provided a bit more insight into the club’s reaction to being drawn against AEL.

“It is a very difficult draw for us for yet another year. AEL are worthy title contenders with a strong squad and an excellent manager,” Lazos said.

“We feel like we can beat anyone. AEL have our respect but we are not afraid of them. We will take our chances and try to qualify. It’s a competition which we are interested in winning”, he added.

“Games against AEL are always interesting and I think they will be come down to the details,” Lazos concluded.

Karmiottisa’s Costas Hadjistillis explained that Karmiotisssa and Anorthosis have different objectives this season.

“We always believed in the cup as a competition. Our first objective is avoiding relegation. Anorthosis has different targets. We will fight for the game. I am sure that both games will be very good,” he said.

Anorthosis’ Demetris Christoforou paid his respect to Karmiotissa as an opponent, drawing on their league encounters to highlight that the draw is far from easy.

“We have a recent taste of what it’s like to play against Karmiotissa. We respect them because they forced us to respect in both league games this season,” he said.

“We are interested in the cup and we want to win this trophy. We are expecting a strong resistance from Karmiotissa but our aim is to qualify and win every title we are competing for,” Christoforou concluded.