APOEL Nicosia coach Ivan Jovanovic believes his side are as good as eliminated from the Champions League following their 3-0 home defeat to Real Madrid in Tuesday night's quarter-final first leg in Cyprus.
The hosts battled gamely but were finally breached in the 74th minute when the impressive Kaka set up Karim Benzema before the Brazilian tucked away fellow substitute Marcelo's excellent cutback eight minutes later. Benzema's second gave the scoreline an emphatic look despite a mighty defensive effort by APOEL.
"The result was fair," Jovanovic said in the post-match press conference. "We tried to contain them but they upped their tempo towards the end and we could not hold on. Madrid are in the semi-finals, there's no question about that. I even believe that they will reach the final and hopefully win it."
He added: "It was very gratifying to play against a team like Real Madrid. We all saw first-hand what a quality side they are.
"You could say this game was a crowning moment for the fantastic campaign we produced this season in the competition. My players have done themselves proud throughout this campaign and once again against superior opponents like Madrid."
Madrid coach Jose Mourinho said he would be hard pushed to improve on the job done by Jovanovic.
The Cypriot side's giant-killing run in this season's tournament has so far accounted for Lyon, Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk and Mourinho praised the job done by his opposite number, admitting that even he could not wring any more performance out of the current APOEL squad.
"APOEL made things very difficult for us and we won because we played well," Mourinho told the post-match press conference.
"They were strong in defence and showcased great team spirit. I'm sure I wouldn't do much better than Jovanovic on this team. We had to do our best to win.
"I think APOEL are doing a fantastic job. We knew the match would be complicated for them. APOEL made it difficult for us because they have a very serious and hard working team."
Source: PA
