UEFA Champions League: Can APOEL Nicosia Continue Their Cinderella Run?

Cypriot club APOEL Nicosia are no strangers to having the underdog title assigned to them, and they will yet again take that title and own it proudly as they face Lyon on Tuesday in the first leg of their Round of 16 matchup.

The Cinderella run started way back in July with a 6-0 aggregate win in the second qualifying round over Albanian side Skenderbeu Korce.

The next two victims in APOEL's run to the group stage were Slovan Bratislava in the third qualifying round and Wisla Krakow in the playoff round.

When the group stage draw was held on August 25th, no one really gave the Cypriots a chance at advancing out of Group G, as they were drawn with Zenit St. Petersburg, Shakhtar Donetsk and Porto.

However, the club were out to prove everyone wrong and they did, beginning with a 2-1 win over Zenit in the first group game.

The player who stood out during the group stage games was 27-year-old Brazilian forward Ailton, who scored three goals in group play.

But Ailton was not the only player who stepped up on the big stage to deliver big wins for the Cypriot club. Gustavo Manduca also delivered a huge 90th-minute goal against Porto in the fourth game of group play to secure a 2-1 win at home, one minute after Porto's Hulk equalized the game with a penalty.

That win over Porto was the one that eventually propelled the club into the knockout round, as the Europa League holders and Zenit failed to produce a result in the final game of the group stage. They not only let APOEL advance but also let APOEL win the group, and it helped them avoid Europe's heavyweights in the draw.

The next challenge for APOEL is a trip to French giants Lyon and the Stade de Gerland for the first leg of their Round of 16 matchup.

Lyon are probably happy that they are not playing Real Madrid yet again. The two clubs have played each other in the Round of 16 for the past two seasons.

Playing on the road in some of Europe's biggest stadiums has not affected the play of APOEL at all, as they have been able to fight to draws in all three of their group games in hostile environments like the Estadio do Dragao, Donbass Arena and the Petrovsky Stadium.

Two of those stadiums can hold close to 50,000 people, while the GSP Stadium in Nicosia only has a capacity of 22,859.

Whether or not APOEL Nicosia can reprise Schalke's surprise run to the semifinals in last season's version of the Champions League, their underdog status and positive away-form are two things that will more than motivate the Cypriot club to continue their surprising run.