Thorsten Fink has experienced first-hand how the atmosphere in stadiums in the far south-east of Europe can sometimes boil over. “A few things were thrown onto the pitch,” recalls the football coach, who himself stood on the sidelines at APOEL Nicosia in Cyprus a few years ago. He expects something similar for FC Bayern when they take on Cypriot champions FC Pafos next Tuesday. Not necessarily projectiles, but a “fiery match”, Fink continues. “The fans there are passionate.”
Fink, a former midfielder for FCB from 1997 to 2004, four-time German champion and Champions League winner in 2001, has experienced a lot in football. He coached FC Basel in Europe’s premier club competition and has also had spells in the dugout outside Europe in Japan and Dubai. The 57-year-old can understand what it means for Pafos to now be the third club from Cyprus to take part in the Champions League after APOEL (four appearances) and Anorthosis Famagusta (one), and to be coming up against opponents such as Bayern.
Pafos’ rapid rise
“For a club from such a small country, it’s certainly something special to have made it to the Champions League,” says Fink. Compared to their domestic league, everything is different: the atmosphere, the balls, the music. “It’s really good for the club. You saw how great the delight was after qualifying.” During Fink’s time in Cyprus, there was no sign that the club from the harbour town in the west of the island would ever get this far. When the former Bundesliga boss was hired at capital club APOEL in January 2015, Pafos were still playing in the second division and had only been formed a few months earlier out of the merger between AEK Kouklia and AE Paphos.
Record champions APOEL, in contrast, were the undisputed number one in the country, where expectations were obviously different. Fink lived up to them, yet his time at APOEL came to an abrupt end. “Sometimes things work differently in Cyprus,” he reveals. Despite reaching the final of the cup and being on course for the league title, the coach was dismissed with two matches left. “When I arrived we were third, when I left we were top. But I only had a contract until May.” Fink didn’t want to extend and was therefore given early leave. So Cyprus remained a brief but “good experience” for the German. The infrastructure, the brilliant fans, the full stadiums at home games but also the people and the food will always be fondly remembered by him.
A point on debut
However, at the latest since last year and Pafos’ first championship, the football landscape in Cyprus has changed. It’s therefore not a coincidence that the newcomers made a respectable debut in Europe’s premier club competition with a 0-0 draw at Olympiacos, despite being reduced to 10 men. The Champions League debutants have signed a number of players who have previously been under contract at top European teams, “who are maybe a bit older but want to play in Europe again”, explains Fink. “Pafos have bought good players but they’re also not for nothing.” The club’s rise is always associated with the name Sergey Lomakin, the Russian investor who owns Pafos as well as other clubs.
So, Bayern should not underestimate their opponents, especially in such a passionate stadium – but for Fink, that doesn’t alter the clear favourites tag. “Because of the individual quality, Bayern have to win.” With Pafos still being unknown to many in Europe, FCB boss Vincent Kompany will also have to “prepare his team just as professionally as before the first game against Chelsea. The analyses will be the same – anything else would be careless,” says the coach, who now works at Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk.
All in all, Pafos should be awkward opponents for the Bavarians but merely a stop on the route to the knockout stages. Fink is “100 percent sure” that Bayern will finish in the top eight of the league phase.
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