Ketsbaia aims to lower Greek colours again

Temuri Ketsbaia has described Anorthosis Famagusta FC's UEFA Champions League fixture against Panathinaikos FC as a "historic moment" as Cyprus gears up for its first taste of European football's élite club competition.

'Hard game'
Anorthosis are riding the crest of a wave. A fortnight ago they made their group-stage bow with a highly creditable draw at Werder Bremen, a meeting made possible by an incredible 3-1 aggregate triumph over Olympiacos CFP in the third qualifying round. A month on and the minnows have another Greek giant in their sights. "It will be a very hard game but we are used to that now," said Ketsbaia. "Our previous matches in Europe have also been hard but we prevailed because we have a strong squad with good players. We will need to show those qualities if we want to beat Panathinaikos."

Ten Cate caution
The visitors are certainly not underestimating their opponents. Panathinaikos's weekend league fixture was cancelled to make way for a Madonna concert, although coach Henk Ten Cate opted against that diversion, travelling instead to Cyprus to watch his side's Matchday 2 rivals win 2-0 at AEL Limassol FC. He was impressed by what he saw. "Anorthosis are a better team without the ball than with the ball," said the Dutchman. "I saw them in their last league game and they only managed to score after sitting back and taking advantage of a mistake by the opposition. They are a team renowned for waiting, waiting and waiting. They are a dangerous counterattacking side and we need to be cautious."

Inter disappointment
Vigilant, but not overly so, as Panathinaikos look to bounce back from a 2-0 home loss to FC Internazionale Milano in their Group B opener. That defeat was compounded by a calf injury to Giorgos Karagounis which could rule him out until mid-October. Vangelis Mantzios (appendix) and Christos Melissis (flu) are also sidelined for Wednesday's tie at a sold-out GSP Stadium in Nicosia, where Ten Cate is determined to improve on Olympiacos's 3-0 loss on 13 August. "The first two goals came out of nothing," he said. "Before they scored, it was all Olympiacos, but that just goes to show what a dangerous counterattacking side they are."

Costly errors
Having displayed such clinical precision to capitalise on mistakes by Olympiacos and SK Rapid Wien in qualifying, Ketsbaia is as aware as anybody of the importance of avoiding slip-ups. "At this level every mistake is costly so we will try to minimise our mistakes," said the 40-year-old Georgian, who has no new injury concerns. "[Panathinaikos] have experienced players who have played at the highest level so we need to be wary of them. They also have quick players so we will have to adjust ourselves accordingly.

'No fluke'
"This is a historic moment – our first group-stage game in Cyprus," Ketsbaia went on. "We showed in our first group game [the stalemate in Bremen] that we have ability and we want to show that our participation in the group stage is no fluke. Judging by the result of our first game, we have shown that the team can climb even higher."