THE LEAST TO HOPE FOR IN EUROPEAN CUPS

The European cup season is over for Azerbaijan's footballers. It will be remembered for being the first time in history that two of the country's clubs reached the group stage of the Europa League - the second most prestigious European club competition - at the same time.

And whereas for Qabala reaching the group stage was seen as an achievement, Qarabag had made no secret of their ambitions to qualify from the group and continue on to the play-offs. 

An analysis of the performances by the Azerbaijani clubs points, first and foremost, to a lack of consistency.

Qabala, led by Roman Hryhorchuk with a decent squad of players, found themselves in a group with PAOK, Krasnodar and Borussia (Dortmund). And in the very first match against PAOK in Baku, Qabala showed what they were made of. They deserved to win but had to be satisfied with a draw. Their away match against Krasnodar was also a fascinating one. Hryhor-chuk, well aware of the Russian team's tactics, had a plan of his own but it didn't work and Qabala were beaten. The next game against Borussia was a nightmare for the Azerbaijanis, who were beaten 1-4! Although it has to be said that in the first 20 minutes the Azerbaijanis created some dangerous moments for their celebrated opponents, a lack of experience meant that these chances were missed. Qabala failed to recover from this defeat, putting in lacklustre performances both in the country's championship and in the Europa League. They even lost their final game against an unmotivated Krasnodar in Baku by 0-3. The Russian team had already ensured their qualification for the play-offs, which gave one hopes for at least a draw, but the result proved even more depressing. So, in their debut season, Qabala earned just two points and ended the group stage in bottom position.

However, reaching the group stage of the Europa League is a great success for the team. Hryhorchuk managed to get a spirited squad together, but the team didn't particular show this trait in the group stage of the EL. However, it should be pointed out that Hryhor-chuk's team produced open football with well-rehearsed moves and long, raking passes.

But some of his decisions were controversial. When choosing his starting line-up Hryhorchuk often surprised fans and the pundits, and these decisions were eventually proved to have been wrong. In the last match of the group round he played Andrey Popovich in goal. And all three goals conceded by Qabala were down to the goalkeeper. And another point - in every match Hryhorchuk favoured foreign players in the main. So what has been the result of all the years of the Qabala football academy? After all, foreign players can leave the club during the winter transfer window. How will the team play then? And some of the foreign players who shone during the qualifying round of the EL remained in the shadows when the team came up against harder clubs in the group stage.

Nevertheless, this European cup season can go down in the records of the Qabala club. In the new season their task will be a tougher one and it will be important for the team to at least repeat what they have achieved this season and reach the group stage of European competitions.

For the second year in a row Qarabag earned the right to appear in the group stage of the EL. This season the team achieved four points in the group, although it had problems with the squad. Despite a long substitutes' bench, leading coach Qurban Qurbanov did not have a big choice for the games in the Europa League. Most players train only for Azerbaijani championship games and the departure from the team of Leroy George and Muarem Muarem affected their performances.

In their first game against Totten-ham in London, Qurbanov's team tried to play good football, but lost 1-3. Although Qarabag opened the scoring, the English team controlled the match. Afran Ismayilov squandered his chances, Qintana failed to get a shot on target and Alharbi al-Jadeyaoui failed to settle in to his new team. Qarabag then beat Anderlecht of Belgium 1-0 in Baku and against Monaco the team again came close to winning but had to settle for a draw and another point.

As a year ago, even at the last round of matches Qarabag still had a chance to get out of the group, but to do so they had to beat Anderlecht away. At the same time, Tottenham beat Monaco which made things a little easier for the Agdam club. But Qarabag missed out, and by losing 1-2 to Anderlecht, ended their participation in European competitions in last place in the group.

In assessing the performance of the Agdam club, one should first of all draw attention to the negatives. There was a clear lack of power up front. After the injury to Reynaldo in October, there was no-one to play the role of goal provider. Although Richard Almeida led the side well, it must be remembered that the Brazilian is an attacking defender, not a striker. Afran Ismayilov once again confirmed that he has not yet reached the level of European football, and goalkeeper Ibrahim Sehic, despite making some good saves, conceded three from his own bad mistakes. The team also appeared to have problems with their mental attitude and gave their opponents too much room.

However, Qarabaq played with plenty of spirit. This year the Azerbai-jani champions found themselves in a very strong group in the EL. If when the draw was made people had said that Qarabag might get four points, many would have been happy with that. Also, Qarabag did not hold out hopes of reaching the final stage, so this shows the players did the very best they could.

So, the European cup season ended at the group stage for Azerbaijan's clubs. But they showed they are capable of reaching the play-offs, which is what the fans expect of them. Next season let us hope that there will be more of our clubs in the group stages of the European cups. For Qarabag and Qabala this stage will be the least they can hope for.