Babic hat-trick for AEL
Matko Babic scored a first half hat-trick as AEL Limassol rose to the top of the Cypriot league after they hammered second bottom Ethnikos Achna 5-0. The win took them above Anorthosis who were beaten on Friday by Doxa Katokopias.
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The match
Babic gave AEL the lead in the eighth minute after he headed in at the near-post from Minas Antoniou’s pinpoint cross.
Manuel Torres was at the heart of the move, releasing Antoniou down the right-hand side with a precise pass.
The Croatian scored his second just six minutes later. Torres once again opened up the visitors’ defence with a brilliantly weighted pass to Sito Reira who got in behind the defence.
Riera intelligently flicked the ball backwards and pulled it back to Babic who finished into the net.
Torres made it three just after the half-hour mark, he played a pass to Davor Zdravkovski and carried his run into the box.
He received the ball back after Zdravkovski’s pass managed to dissect a couple of Ethnikos defenders. He turned, took a touch and placed a shot into the far corner.
Babic grabbed his hat-trick in the 41st minute. Antoniou made an overlapping run to the by-line and he pulled the ball back for the striker to stab in at the near-post.
The hosts led 4-0 at half-time, and had a much quieter second-half with Marko Adamovic’s penalty the only goal in the 74th minute after Manuel Torres beat his defender and was brought down in the area.
Stats
The win was AEL’s third in succession in the league, after wins against rivals Apollon and Anorthosis. They lead the table with 27 points from 13 games – a point ahead of Apollon who have a game in hand.
Babic has scored four goals in his last two league games, after not scoring in his first six league appearances of the season.
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Ethnikos Achna have just seven points from 13 games, and sit second bottom in the table.
