Apoel and Borussia Dortmund were forced to settle for a point each in a thrilling encounter at the GSP Stadium on Tuesday night which finished 1-1.
With the two sides having lost their opening two matches, a win was of huge importance for both team’s respective aspirations.
As expected, Dortmund started the brighter of the two, with Andriy Yarmolenko having a snap shot with his weaker foot from range which went just over the bar.
Dortmund continued to force the issue and a half chance from Shinji Kagawa had Apoel nervous again, though thankfully the effort also cleared the bar.
Despite not having a glimpse in the opening exchanges, it was Apoel who went closest on 16 minutes as Lorenzo Ebecilio’s low cross found Igor de Camargo. The Belgian made contact but his first-time shot went just wide of the near post.
After a relatively quiet first period, the game burst to life just after the hour mark as Apoel found themselves ahead out of nowhere.
Roman Burki’s attempted pass inadvertently found Ebecilio who fired towards goal and, though his effort was saved, the rebound fell to Mickael Pote who coolly rounded the keeper before tapping in for the opener.
The joy was short lived, however, as the visitors levelled just five minutes later. Mario Goetze’s hanging cross was met by Greek defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos who leapt to nod in the equaliser.
End-to-end drama ensued. Kagawa arrowed a shot from outside the area a minute later which looked destined for the top corner but was diverted superbly onto the crossbar by substitute Raul Gudiño’s outstretched fingertips.
A minute after that, it was Apoel who almost went ahead as Pote struck firmly but not accurately enough to beat Burki this time, just before a devilish Aloneftis cross caused havoc in the Dortmund box.
A teasing ball to the far post, this time at the other end, almost found Christian Pulisic but the American could not divert goalwards.
Just when it looked as though Dortmund were the likelier to grab a late winner, Apoel had a golden chance at the death but unmarked Ghayas Zahid could not make good enough connection with his volley.
And it almost came at a cost as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang headed powerfully towards goal, only for Gudiño to make a great stop onto the post, before the rebound was blazed over the bar in what was the final kick of a thrilling game.
The nights other scores:
Real Madrid 1
Tottenham 1
NK Maribor 0
Liverpool 7
Spatak Moscow 5
Sevilla 1
Feyenoord 1
Shakhtar Donetsk 2
Man City 2
Napoli 1
Monaco 1
Besiktas 2
RB Leipzig 3
FC Porto 2