APOEL vs Sparta

I had to catch a taxi to the match, but it probably would have been faster and definitely cheaper to walk the last half as traffic really crawled close to the stadium. Plus they only had one ticket booth open... so even though I left my apartment at 7:10 and the stadium is only 5km, I only just made kickoff at 8.

The stadium was quite impressive... capacity is about 23,000, and all the seats are really close to the field. I was really pleased with my £10 seat, I was up quite high with a good view of the whole ground but I still felt really close to the field.

The match itself was great, although was disappointing for APOEL Nicosia in that they were up 2-0 with about 10 minutes left before collapsing to a 2-2 draw. The crowd was unbelievable though. I'd say there were about 15,000 people there, with 3 sides of the ground full, and (bizarrely) one end completely empty (although they had a giant APOEL shirt covering the entire stand). One end consisted of APOEL fans, all wearing orange, who pretty much jumped up and down and sang the entire match. There was a whole row of drummers who also kept going the whole match.

Unfortunately the two late goals that APOEL conceded means that they are unlikely to win the tie... a real pity as if they make it through to the third round they could be drawn against teams such as Liverpool, Manchester United or Real Madrid! Would have been brilliant to see one of those teams. Still, you never know...

I was a bit worried after the match about getting home, thought I might have to call the taxi company and somehow manage to explain exactly where I was (and wait while it fought through the traffic exiting the stadium). But there was a taxi sitting waiting just outside the entrance so it all worked out quite well.