For many Anorthosis players, Monday's derby (25/10, 19:00) with AEK is more important than tomorrow's (21/10, 19:45) game with Flora for the 3rd game of the Conference League. Justified, as, although a match in a group stage has -regardless of an opponent- another prestige, since the priority of the team is the championship and not the further European distinction, it is the match with Larnaca that περισσότερο burns the most, especially after the defeat from AEL, which was the third in five games and left “Kyria” far behind in terms of points.
There are, however, many good reasons for Anorthosis to put aside the derby for a while and give their all for the three-pointer against the Estonians. Perhaps the main thing is her prestige and pride, as a victory in the group stage is always special, while at the same time the last thing the blue and whites would like is in their first participation after 13 years to finish without a win, let alone last, in a group in fact with the (fighting but weaker) Flora.
In addition, the financial is in the middle. The 500,000 euros is an amount that Anorthosis can not ignore (like any Cypriot team), and once it is given the opportunity to secure it without having to win a particularly difficult game, it would not want to leave it to be lost. After all, we are talking about an amount that corresponds to approximately 15% of this year's budget of the “Lady”.
At the same time, with a possible victory over Flora, he will keep the few chances he has for the second place of the group, which leads to the knock-out phase, meaning that he will make a double against the same team in two weeks (4/11). When Anorthosis will play twice against the Estonians, Ghent and Partizan will tell each other and the scenario that one team will win both games, leaving the other at six points (and therefore equal to Anorthosis in the sense that it will win twice Flora), can not be ruled out. This will be followed by the home match against Ghent where, in this scenario, the “Lady” will play everything for the third victory that will put her firmly in the qualifying round.
Like this:
Like Loading …
