AEL defeated Paphos 2-0 at “Stelios Kyriakides Stadium” in the match that kicked off the 4th round of the Cyprus League by Stoiximan.
The “Lions” managed to secure an important victory, handing Paphos its first loss of the season. With this win, AEL climbs to second place with 9 points, while the “Blues” sit in third place with the same number of points as the Limassol team. However, the final standings remain to be seen before the three-week break.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
After the match, Ricardo Sa Pinto addressed his team’s mistakes, while Hugo Martins, on the other hand, highlighted his players’ outstanding performance and attitude.
Here are their statements in detail:
Ricardo Sa Pinto (Paphos): “This is our team’s first loss. We’ll analyze the game tomorrow and look at the details. At first glance, we tried hard but didn’t make the right decisions. We weren’t aggressive enough; we know what went wrong. We tried to control the game… but the game swung in AEL’s favor; we knew they’d defend well. We lacked the final pass in the attacking third; we lacked freshness and a clear head. We didn’t impose our style of play… In the second half, we made mistakes; we need to be smarter. We fell into AEL’s traps, and they deserve the win; many congratulations to them. A team that wants to contend for the championship can’t make mistakes like that. It was a night when nothing went right for us.”
Hugo Martins (AEL): “An important performance. The intensity we brought and our attitude were excellent. When you’re that strong, focused, and play at that level, we’d definitely do better—even without the five players who were out. We did an excellent job. For me, this performance is important. We’re in first place. When we lost 0–6, we were disappointed, but we worked hard and I think we’ve turned things around. We’re setting our sights on more points.”
He then added: “Attitude is important. We played against the best team in the league, led by an outstanding coach. We tried to disrupt our opponent’s game. Singh and Mougé had outstanding performances and were solid defensively. We need to show this kind of attitude to fill in the gaps.”
