Home comforts augur well for Anorthosis

A determined rearguard action helped Anorthosis Famagusta FC, the first Cypriot club to reach the UEFA Champions League group stage, draw 0-0 away to Werder Bremen on Matchday 1 – giving them a point more than Panathinaikos FC after the Greek side began with a 2-0 home defeat by FC Internazionale Milano.

• Bremen created a host of chances at the Weserstadion but were unable to break down Temuri Ketsbaia's Anorthosis team who, on their debut in the competition proper, proved themselves to be well-organised and hard-working.

• To make history, Anorthosis needed to overcome all three qualifying hurdles and matching 3-0 home victories in the second and third rounds was testament to their form on home soil. Their ticket to the group stage came at the expense of Panathinaikos's fierce rivals, Olympiacos CFP, and a repeat of that 3-0 success at the Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium in the third qualifying round first leg would do them nicely on Matchday 2. On that occasion Vassilis Torosidis – an own goal – Lukasz Sosin and Vincent Laban scored the Cypriot club's goals which proved more than adequate insurance for the game in Athens which ended 1-0 to Olympiacos.

• In the previous stage Anorthosis recorded a 3-0 home victory over SK Rapid Wien, progressing despite a 3-1 second-leg defeat in Austria, after overcoming FC Pyunik 3-0 on aggregate in the first qualifying round (winning 1-0 at home).

• Before the third qualifying round Anorthosis had met Greek opposition on two occasions. The first, also against Olympiacos, came in the 1998/99 UEFA Champions League second qualifying round when the Cypriot side went down 2-1 away and then 4-2 at home. In the 2002/03 UEFA Cup first round they faced Iraklis FC and although they lost the away leg 4-2, a 3-1 win in the return took them through on away goals.

• Panathinaikos, third in Greece's Super League in 2007/08, had hoped to inflict more first-match disappointment on Inter but goals in either half from Mancini and substitute Adriano – both taking advantage of set-up play from Zlatan Ibrahimović – gave the Italian champions a contrasting start to the preceding two seasons when they had lost on Matchday 1.

• Henk Ten Cate's team, who are in their eighth UEFA Champions League campaign, prevailed 2-1 at AC Sparta Praha in the third qualifying round first leg before a 1-0 home win meant they went through with a two-goal cushion.

• In their last UEFA Champions League campaign in 2005/06, Panathinaikos lost all three away games in the group, conceding 13 goals in total. They succumbed 5-0 at FC Barcelona, 5-1 at Bremen and 3-0 at Udinese Calcio. The previous season they managed two draws and a defeat away from home. Their last victory on their travels came in December 2003 when they gained a 3-1 triumph at Rangers FC. Since then they have played six away matches, recording four defeats and two draws.

• The Athens club have encountered only one Cypriot opponent in European competition until now. That was in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup first round in 1988/89 when they overcame AC Omonia 1-0 away and 2-0 at home.

• Defender Traianos Dellas, a summer signing by Anorthosis from AEK Athens FC, was part of Greece's UEFA EURO 2004™-winning squad alongside Panathinaikos pair Giannis Goumas and Giorgos Karagounis.

• The other Matchday 2 game in Group B is between Inter and Bremen.