Cypriot champions Pafos picked up their first ever win in the Champions League proper as they stunned Villarreal.
The hosts, formed only 11 years ago, have lost just one of their 10 matches in the competition this season, including qualifiers – and that was to Bayern Munich.
And this was another landmark moment for the team managed by ex-Arsenal assistant Juan Carlos Carcedo.
Dutch defender Derrick Luckassen scored the historic winner with an unmarked header following a 46th-minute corner from former Watford winger Ken Sema.
Cyprus’ president Nikos Christodoulides, a Pafos fan, reportedly missed the goal – taking his seat a minute after Luckassen had nodded in.
Villarreal, who are yet to win in Europe this season but third in La Liga, had the bulk of the game’s chances but could not beat Pafos keeper Neofytos Michail.
Pafos are playing their home games at the Alphamega Stadium in Limassol, which is about 40 miles away as their own ground does not meet Uefa requirements.
They were formed in 2014 when two clubs from the region merged – AEK Kouklia and AEP Paphos – who themselves had been part of a merger of two other teams in 2000.
They started in the second tier and bounced around between that and the top flight until the 2017 takeover by Roman Dubov, a Russian businessman with British citizenship who had a spell as Portsmouth owner in 2011.
Since Carcedo’s arrival in 2023 they have won their first two trophies – the Cypriot Cup in 2024 and the league last season – and reached the knockout stages of the Conference League on their European debut in the previous campaign.
Their big summer signing was David Luiz, the ex-Arsenal, Chelsea and Brazil defender, who played 90 minutes in this match to help keep out a Villarreal attack featuring ex-Premier League players Ayoze Perez, Nicolas Pepe and Manor Solomon.
