“Seriously? No way”. When asked about Pafos’ good results in the Champions League, Axel Guessand made no secret: he didn’t expect it. Even though he only arrived at the Cypriot club on October 2, the French centre-back admitted he was “surprised” by the five points his team achieved on the European stage, including the win over Villarreal while awaiting the meeting against Monaco this Wednesday (18:45).
However, this is the club’s recent ambition, born in 2014 from a merger between AE Paphos and AEK Kouklia to offer the city in western Cyprus a club worthy of the name. Even more so since the arrival of billionaire Roman Dubov in 2017. “We have said from day one: everything that big clubs like Manchester United or Chelsea have, we must have too. Maybe on a smaller scale, but never of lower quality,” he told Economy Today.
