QARABAG IN EUROPE!

The qualifying stage of the European Cup was marked by a historic success for Azerbaijani clubs. Azerbaijan champions FC Qarabag made it into the group stage of the Europa League for the first time in their history. Unfortunately, Neftci was unable to support the initiative of the Agdam team and stopped short of the group stage, although the fans waited with great hope for the "oil workers" to make it into the group stage of the Euroleague, as it happened two years ago.

Neftci out of the Euroleague

In the play-off round, the Baku club was vying with Serbian Partizan for a place in the group stage of the Euroleague. The first game ended in Belgrade with a victory for Partizan with a score of 3:2. Therefore, in the second match in Baku a score of 1:0 or 2:1 suited Neftci.

Meanwhile, the Serbian club was the first to open the score. Although Neftci hit back, at the end of the match Partizan were able to score another goal against the Baku team and thus secured their place in the group stage of the Euroleague.

Neftci head coach Boyukaga Haciyev chose the 4-5-1 formation for the game. The main change was the replacement of Bertucci with Denis Silva. Canales, who returned to the team, remained on the bench. The game showed the presence of numerous problems in Neftci. Most of the players performed below their capacity and their physical form was not up to par, plus captain Flavinho lost his leadership abilities. After 60 minutes of the game, Neftci players virtually ceased to struggle.

The end of the game turned into a nightmare. First Nfor received his second yellow card and was dismissed. And in extra minutes, the Serbs scored the winning goal. In this episode Neftci goalkeeper Sasa Stamenkovic saved the goal twice, but the third strike hit the empty goal. However, Neftci did not allow Partizan players to rejoice at the goal, starting, unfortunately, a brawl. As a result, Neftci players Caue and Ramos and Partizan player Skuletic, who, by the way, scored both goals in the game, received red cards. As a result, Neftci lost to Partizan in both games and said goodbye to the Euroleague.

This result suggests that it is time for change in Neftci. Flavinho and Bertucci, who have been leading the club to success for several years, have lost their abilities. Therefore, in winter, they and a number of other players should probably be put on the transfer list. And the extra weight of Nicolas Canales, who returned to the club two weeks ago, showed that he is far from good shape.

Historic success of Qarabag

In the play-off round of the Euroleague, Qarabag were able to get past the strong Dutch FC Twente. Both matches ended in a draw, but if in Baku it was a goalless draw, in Holland the teams exchanged goals. As a result, Qarabag overcame Twente due to the goal scored in an away match and made it into the group stage of the Europa League. Thus, the Agdam team became the second Azerbaijani club after Neftci to make it into the group stage of the Europa League. It is interesting that on the way to success, Qarabag repeated the fate of Neftci, who played in the group stage of the Europa League in the 2012/2013 season. Both teams started playing in the European Cup as champions of the country and both lost in the second qualifying round of the Champions League and continued the struggle in the play-off of the Europa League, where they were able to beat their rivals.

The representatives of Agdam in Holland fought until the last minute and were able to keep the result they needed. After the beautiful goal of Muarrem Muarrem, Qarabag competently defended themselves and were able to keep the score.

Qurban Qurbanov, who has been leading Qarabag for six years, played an important role in the success of the team. He does not seek to frequently shuffle the team and thus was able to succeed. Qurbanov has formed a real team, which fights until the last minute in every game.

The rivals of Qarabag in the group stage of the Europa League are already known - Italian Inter, Ukrainian Dnipro and French Saint-Etienne. Naturally, the Azerbaijani club is the most inexperienced in the group. Inter have repeatedly won the Champions League, Saint-Etienne have been champions of France and holders of the National Cup, and Dnipro, with its annual budget of 90m dollars, cannot be considered a weak team either. Therefore, at this stage, we should not expect Qarabag to make into the play-off. But as they say, the field is flat and the ball is round, and, of course, there are always small chances.

Thus, Qarabag will have six games in the Euroleague.

Garden at the stadium?

The games in the play-off round of the Europa League, which were held at the Tofiq Bahramov Central Stadium, especially the last game between Neftci and Partizan, became a shock to fans not only because of the failure, but also because of the state of the field. The Qarabag-Twente and Neftci-Partizan games broadcast to several countries showed the appalling state of the lawn. As a result, the country's main arena was closed for repairs. Watching the Qarabag-Twente game, Youth and Sports Minister Azad Rahimov demanded that the director of the stadium, Akif Ismayilov, explain the ugly state of the lawn. As a result, Bulgarian specialist Boris Kolev, who was responsible for the lawn, was dismissed. The restoration of the field and its maintenance were assigned to British experts.

The director of the stadium, Ismayilov, explained such an unsightly state of the field by the hot weather. After all, we all know that July and August are considered the hottest months of the year. And why is it impossible to protect the lawn in the age of high technology?! The dismissed Bulgarian specialist Boris Kolev linked the current state of the lawn to the fact that the grass was planted on sand. "It is not my fault. Grass does not stay for long on sand. In most stadiums, the lawn is laid on soil, but here the base is sand. For a good pitch, you have to replace sand with soil," Kolev told R+.

The British experts promised to return the lawn to a normal condition within 2 months.

AT FIRST HAND

"We have repeatedly made it into the play-off of the Europa League, but have never been able to achieve our goal. Finally, after a few years we were able to achieve this. Each player, coaches and the club management contributed to the fact that we made it into the group stage. We will try to continue our successful performance in the group stage and delight our people."

Qurban QURBANOV, head coach of Qarabag 

THIS IS INTERESTING

For participation in European Cups, Qarabag earned 1.120m euros. Of these, 480,000 euros - for taking part in the two stages of the Champions League qualifying round and 640,000 euros - for reaching the group stage of the Europa League.

For each game in the group stage, the team will get 60,000 euros. In addition, each victory in the group will bring the team another 140,000 euros and a draw - 70,000 euros.