Going into last night's 2nd leg, the side from the capital of Kazakhstan held a slender 1-0 lead over the Cypriots. The 2nd leg was very much a back against the wall resistance mission as Astana went with just one up front while APOEL went chasing the goal they needed to restore parity in the tie.
The first half went by with APOEL much the better side in terms of attacking threat forcing keeper Nenad Eric into tipping Luís Leal's close range shot onto the post.
Astana did have one or two excursions in the APOEL half with Foxi Kéthévoama forcing Boy Waterman into a save.
The 2nd half continued in the same vein as the first with APOEL forcing the issue. The breakthrough did eventually come just shy of the hour mark. A free kick from Bosnian Semir Stilic got the Cypriots back on level terms and pendulum swung APOEL's way. Would Astana be able to hold on. In fact one goal for Astana would change everything but it was APOEL who looked the more likely to get a 2nd goal. The dangerous Vander causing problems for Astana as they began to fear it might not be their night.
However for Astana they had a sting left in their tail and they showed it on 84 minutes when Baurzhan Dzholchiev hit a low shot across the APOEL goal which missed everyone except the on rushing Nemanja Maksimovic who tapped home to make it 1-1 on the night and 2-1 an aggregate but crucially it was an away goal which meant APOEL needed two goals in the final five minutes plus stoppage time. APOEL were shell shocked and the silence of the GSP stadium once Astana got that goal was telling as they knew that was it.
Astana held on to create history while the disappointment was huge for APOEL who only three seasons ago were writing their own history with a run to the quarter-finals of the champions league.
Astana were only founded in 2009 under the name of Lokomotiv Astana following a merger of two local clubs Megasport and Alma-Ata. Since then its been an upward rise that has seen them win the cup in 2010, make their European competition debut in 2013, winning the league in 2014 and last night joining the European elite in the champions league group stage.
In the draw later today, Astana will be the team most want to avoid in terms of travel. Their remote location in central Kazakhstan makes them the furthest Eastern side in the competition. Whoever is pitted against them will have to be wary as they have a growing pedigree as Maribor and APOEL will testify to so far this season.
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