UNLUCKY SEASON

As expected, weak competition in the championship of Azerbaijan manifested itself on the performance of Azerbaijani teams in European tournaments. Skeptical forecasts came true - three domestic clubs left the competition just after the first qualifying round of the Europa League.

Although Keshla defeated Baltzana (Malta ,2:1) and Gabala defeated Progress (Luxembourg, 1:0) in return matches, this was not enough to achieve the advantage and to qualify for the next stage. Neftchi also tasted the bitterness of euphoria caused by a confident victory in the home game. Losing in the return match to Újpest with a crushing score (4:0), it also said goodbye to the Europa League.

This happened once before, when four Azerbaijani teams left the competition after the first stage. Eleven years ago, Baku FC dropped out of the Intertoto Cup, then Khazar-Lankaran lost in the Champions League, while Neftchi and MKT-Araz lost in the UEFA Cup. The elimination of three representatives of Azerbaijan at the first qualifying stage of the Europa League, and on the same day, was the first such incident in the history of Azerbaijani football.

Each competition has its own candidates, middle-level teams and outsiders. But if it is a championship with the participation of only eight teams, like the Premier League of Azerbaijan, a full-fledged competition with such a distribution of forces is impossible. If earlier there were 7-8 teams competing for the awards, now those clubs which are relatively distinguished by composition, budget and traditions, achieve the goal almost without any struggle. For example, the repeated titles of Garabagh, which it gets without much effort.

During the last three years, the gap between the Garabagh and the closest runner-up was expressed in double digits. For example, in the last season, Gabala fell behind the leader with 16 (!) points. Also, for the past four seasons, the players have not been able to cross the 15-goal line. What kind of competition and spectacular championship can we think about in such a situation?

If we make a comparative analysis of Azerbaijani clubs, the first thing that comes to mind is the stability of Garabagh. The unchanged leadership and the head coach of the team have worked hand in hand for ten years. Yes, there are changes in the team composition during the transfers but they are only cosmetic. Now, let's look at Neftchi, Gabala and Keshla. After Sadig Sadigov, the club changed 3-4 leaders and 5-6 head coaches.

Time proved that the resignation of Tarlan Akhmedov, who brought the team to the Europa League, and the transfer of Sheriff FC's former coach to Neftchi was a mistake.

Thanks to cooperation with Roman Grigorchuk for three and a half years, Gabala took part in the Europa League in two consecutive cycles, but then lost all its authority. And it is useless to demand from Sanan Gurbanov more than he does now.

As for Keshla, when it was called Inter, the club had its own policy and was stable. Now it also has problems. Zaur Akhundov, who came to lead the club, parted with Zaur Svanadze and invited Ramiz Mammadov as a coach, who also left the club being replaced by Yuri Maximov. But he also left…

Looking at these strategic mistakes, associating the failures to the mistakes of coaches and players may seem illogical. But we should not forget that Neftchi, Gabala, and Keshla won one match but lost the other one. For example, let's take Sanan Gurbanov's approach to Progress. Before the first game, the young specialist said that he could not study the opponent, did not see his game and is not familiar with its players. In addition, in the second game, the absence of Javid Huseynov, who was injured in training at his own imprudence, again appeared in the Gabala. A red card received by Temkin Khalilzade for striking his opponent in a completely innocuous episode is also remarkable.

The failure of the Keshla was a result of the confrontation between the club's president and the head coach.

As for Neftchi, after playing with Újpest, Roberto Bordin confessed his own tactical failure.

The champion of Azerbaijan Garabagh also did not look like before. After the departure of a number of main players including goalkeeper Ibrahim Shehic, Richard Almeida and Pedro Henrique in the summer, the club from Aghdam failed to repeat its historic achievement in the Champions League.

After defeating Olympia (Slovenia) and Kukesi (Albania) at the initial qualification stage of the Champions League, Gurbanov's team lost to BATE (Belarus). Draw in the away game (1:1) after the defeat in Baku (0:1) took Garabagh's opponents to the playoff stage of the tournament. And  Garabagh had to test its strength and luck at the playoff of the Europa League with Sheriff (Moldova).

We must admit that the current Garabagh differs from the one we saw in the last season. Head coach Gurban Gurbanov also understands that his team plays weaker. There are many reasons such as the lack of competition in the national championship, and the refusal of high-profile foreign players to play in our clubs, and, most importantly, the lagging behind of local players. These, as well as other reasons, made the victory of BATE inevitable.

Either way, the failures of our clubs in the Europa League will affect the national team. Ahead are the games in the UEFA League of Nations. And it seems it will be difficult to win in the League of Nations after failures in European tournaments.