Jovanovic proud of APOEL's Champions League campaign

The Serbian coach believes that his players have gained valuable experience from playing against Madrid, while confessing that he is proud of the team's campaign in Europe.APOEL coach Ivan Jovanovic played down the significance of the team's 8-2 aggregate defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals.After a 3-0 loss at home in the first leg of the tie last week, the Cypriots suffered a 5-2 reverse at the Santiago Bernabeu in the reverse clash on Wednesday evening.However, Jovanovic preferred to take positives from his side's European campaign, where APOEL became the first Cypriot club to reach the last eight in the Champions League."It was a pleasure to play here, in such a game," he told Uefa.com. "It is a crowning moment for all of us and the score is not so important because we should look back at the whole campaign with pride."We gained some great experience from these two games and that experience will help the club, the players and myself for the future."Jovanovic then admitted that he knew the team could overcome the three-goal deficit and praised the team's display in the second half."The tie was effectively decided in Nicosia,"  Jovanovic added. "Tonight we wanted to play well even though it is hard to play here against such a great side."We needed a bit of time to adapt and find our rhythm but I believe everyone who watched the game would have enjoyed it in the end – there were seven goals and many more chances."We wanted to play better than we did in the first game. Madrid punish the slightest mistake, which was why we were so tentative in the first half."The second half pleased everyone because we played better, scoring two goals and creating more chances."While APOEL's Champions League run has come to an end, Real Madrid will now face Bayern Munich in the semi-finals.