Omonia and APOEL qualify to UEFA Cup first round

Cypriot football clubs, Omonia and APOEL of Nicosia, qualified to UEFA Cup's first round after knocking out Greek AEK and Serbia's Crvena Zvezda Belgrade (Red Star), sparking a continued round of celebrations, after Anorthosis Famagusta FC triumph to become the first Cypriot club to compete in the Champions League group stage.

Omonia and APOEL will participate in today's first round draw in Monaco, comprising 80 teams who will play two legs to form the 40 clubs that make up the group stage.

AC Omonia became the second Cypriot team to knock out a Greek club earning a 2-2 draw against nine-man AEK Athens FC in the second leg of their UEFA Cup second qualifying round tie to triumph 3-2 on aggregate.

In the match in GSP stadium, Omonia opened the score on 10' with Klodian Duro, while AEK equalized six minutes later with Ismael Blanco. Duro regained the lead for Omonia after scoring his second goal in the 70th minute, but AEK bounced back with Pavlis scoring the equalizer in the 89th minute

APOEL, last year's cup holders, secured its qualification over Red Star, after a 120-minute thriller. Ivan Jovanovic's team obliged the Belgrade club to 3-3 draw (fist leg 2-2), making a 5-5 aggregate which gave APOEL the ticket to the next round on away goals.

In the dramatic match in Maracana Belgrade, APOEL gained the lead after Kamil Kosowski scored in the 55th minute and Helio Pinot doubled APOEL's advantage two minutes later. Red Star with Vladimir Bogdanovic brought back the Serbian team into the game, and Nenad Milijias leveled the game in the 85 minute, forcing the game to extra time, during which Milijias scored the third goal for Red Star (penalty, after the dismissal of APOEL's goalkeeper Dionisis Chiotis), but APOEL bounced back with Nenad Mirosavljavic scoring the equalizer for the Cypriot team in the 87th minute, giving APOEL the ticket to the next round.

On Wednesday, Anorthosis secured a place in the group stage, the first ever for a Cypriot club, after completing a 3-1 aggregate over Greek titleholders Olympiakos Piraeus.