Thirteen years ago, they took care of the biggest success in the club’s history. APOEL Nicosia football players played in the group stage of the millionaire competition after eliminating Slovan in the preliminary round of the Champions League. Their fairy-tale journey stopped only in the quarter-finals, where the famous Real Madrid stopped them.
Photo: TASR, Pavel Neubauer
Igor Žofčák and Filip Šebo after losing to APOEL 13 years ago.
“The story of the biggest underdog you’ve never heard of comes to an end,” wrote the American sports website Bleacher Report at the time.
13 years ago, forward Filip Šebo also played in the Slovan jersey for the duel against APOEL, who, together with other stars of the team, did not hide his disappointment after being relegated.
“In Europe, we simply cannot play with only one striker. There is no need to talk about anything at all, because APOEL has confirmed that it is a class better. We didn’t play badly defensively, but up front we didn’t have a goal chance in two games,” one of the leaders of the offensive assessed at the time.
Trustees of Vladimír Weiss st. on Wednesday at Tehelno poli (kick-off at 8.30 p.m.) they can take the first step towards the Slovak champion enjoying the progress this time.
“We are facing a very high-quality opponent, but I think the chances are open. In my opinion, it is good to start at home.
We have fans behind us, we believe that it will be sold out, and that will push us forward,” says Cesar Blackman, the Panamanian representative in the service of Slovan, who was quoted by the club’s official website.
Photo: TASR, Martin Baumann
02. Slovan vs Lille Cesar Blackman in a duel with Gabriel Gudmundsson.
The Cypriot champion does not have the same quality as in the last mutual confrontation with Slovan. The situation is worse when it comes to the budget.
It should be approximately at the level of 12 million euros, i.e. about half of what Slovakia has at its disposal. In addition, APOEL is drowning in debts that reportedly exceed the amount of 30 million euros.
Advancing to the final 4th preliminary round would help both teams financially. Slovan has already collected around five million euros in bonuses from UEFA, and there are millions more at stake.
They would help the club with the arrival of new reinforcements, which Weiss is calling for. The most mentioned is the return of the Slovenian Andraž Šporar.
He is said to be interested in joining Slovan, for which he played over 50 matches and scored 44 goals in the past.
“Those were wonderful times. We did well in the domestic competition and in Europe we played with quality teams such as Wolverhampton, Besiktas, Braga. Even now Slovan is doing well, I still follow him.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed for him and I wish him to win the title again and go as far as possible in cup Europe,” said the Slovinec, who wears the jersey of Panathinaikos, last year.
He left Slovan in 2020 for Sporting Lisbon for 6 million euros. It was the biggest transfer in the history of the Slovak league.
Today, its market value is around three million euros. Even the fans, among whom the top gunner enjoyed huge popularity, long for his return.
He celebrated his 30th birthday in February. At the top level, he could perform well for two, maybe three years. However, his experience from the European Cups would be invaluable for Slovan in this period.
Source: sportweb.pravda.sk
