APOEL (Nicosia) and Georgi Kostadinov won the championship title of Cyprus after in a match of the 10th round of the playoffs (total 36- i) finished 1:1 with AEK (Larnaca) in a unique atmosphere at the "GSP" stadium. APOEL finished with 73 points at the top, the same as AEK, but better performance in head-to-head matches brought the title even on equal points. This is title #29 for APOEL (Nicosia) in history, making it the most successful club on the Island of Aphrodite in general, BTA reports.
The two teams exchanged one goal each in the first 10 minutes, with the visitors first opening the scoring in the 7th through Imad Faraj. The goal was initially disallowed for offside, but referee Espen Eskos of Norway reviewed the entire attack using the video replay system (VAR) and saw Issam Cebaké covering.
Only after 120 seconds, the home team answered with a goal by Marquinhos and equalized for 1:1. Sarfo sent the ball deep into the defensive area, the visitors' Alfa Diunku caught up with Marquinhos and supposedly cleared the ball, but not properly. The Brazilian attacking midfielder of APOEL got ahead of him and fired a shot from close range to make it 1:1.
In the 84th minute came the last opportunity for AEK in the match, but during the melee goalkeeper Vid Belets reacted best and saved Lopes' shot. In the closing minutes, the head coach of the home team, Ricardo Sa Pinto, returned Georgi Kostadinov to the center of the defense, and so the result remained unchanged, and the APOEL players started the celebration with their fans.