APOEL look to overcome the odds

History is not on APOEL FC's side as they bid to turn around a 1-0 first-leg deficit in their UEFA Champions League play-off tie against FC København. The Cypriot titleholders have come back only once on the 21 previous occasions when they lost the first leg of a European tie.

Match background

• Trailing to Zdeněk Pospěch's solitary strike in the first game, APOEL need to win by two clear goals to reach the UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time but they can take heart from their home results so far in this qualifying campaign – a 3-0 victory over EV/Streymur followed by a 2-0 success against FK Partizan.

• There is further encouragement for Ivan Jovanović's team in their decent home record in the UEFA Champions League – this season's results included, they have won five and lost just one of their last eight matches.

• APOEL's unhappy record of one successful fightback in 21 attempts augurs less well for the hosts. The one time they did recover a first-leg deficit was in the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League second qualifying round against NK Maribor when, 2-1 down after the opener, they bounced back with a 4-2 home success.

• København have their own reasons to believe, given they are yet to concede a goal in two away matches in this qualifying campaign – a 6-0 win at FK Mogren and a goalless draw at Stabæk IF.

• Moreover, København have won their last eight ties in which they led after the first leg – although they did slip up spectacularly in the 2004/05 UEFA Champions League second qualifying round when they lost 5-0 at home to NK Gorica after a 2-1 away win. Midfielder Hjalte Nørregaard is the only survivor of that traumatic defeat in the FCK squad.

• København's goal is to return to the group stage after their sole appearance in 2006/07 when they overcame Myllykosken Pallo-47 and AFC Ajax in successive qualifying rounds. Those triumphs are in stark contrast to a trend that has brought the Danish outfit defeats at the qualifying stage on four occasions (2001/02, 2003/04, 2004/05 and 2007/08).

• The Copenhagen side also fell short of the group stage in an earlier version of the competition format in 1993/94, losing 7-0 on aggregate to AC Milan in the second round.

• Both clubs competed in the UEFA Cup last season. København reached the Round of 32, while APOEL advanced no further than the first round.

Team ties

• As a player, København coach Ståle Solbakken appeared for the Norwegian national team in a 2-0 away win against Cyprus in February 1995. He was later in charge of the Norway Under-19 side beaten 1-0 at home by Cyprus in November 2002.