KARABAKH TO BECOME AZERBAIJAN'S BARCELONA?

Qurban Qurbanov can rightly be called the most popular and favourite football coach of Azerbaijan. The special merit of the head coach of Karabakh is that he was able to achieve success and recognition without using foreign players, contrary to the established fashion. The Agdam team is loved by fans for two reasons: firstly, its composition is formed mainly by local players and, secondly, the team performed well in European tournaments.

Certainly, the head coach made a great contribution to the achievements of Karabakh, which overcame such giants as Rosenborg and Wisla in Europa League games.

Becoming a coach after his football career, the former striker emerged as a gifted and demanding specialist. The head coach of Karabakh, Qurban Qurbanov, visited the bases of Turkish Galatasaray and Borussia Dortmund. And recently, in order to further improve his level of coaching, he visited the base of Barcelona, which is now considered to be the best team in the world. In our interview with the head coach of Karabakh, Qurban Qurbanov, we talked about his impressions from the trip to the Bar?a base and the team practice session that was held in Antalya.

- I want to start the conversation with what you saw at the base of the FC Barcelona. Now the Catalans are the strongest team in the world. It would be interesting to know your impressions of the trip ...

- It was a very useful trip. I would even say that it surpassed all my expectations. There was a well-planned programme. They greeted us very warmly. During the trip, we had useful meetings. Although originally, we planned to watch the cup match between Barcelona and Osasuna in the national championship, this was not possible, because a number of meetings did not allow us to attend this away game.

- Did you manage to watch games of the Spanish championship?

- Instead of the cup match, we watched at a match of La Liga, where Espa?ol beat Cordoba with a score of 4-2. We were lucky to be at the stadium also during the national championship match, where Barcelona beat Real Betis with the same score. Along with the main team, we saw training sessions of other age groups, beginning from 7-year-olds. Bar?a has become the strongest club in the world because all the age groups in it are based on a single football philosophy. In general, the conclusions from this trip are only positive.

- Did you have a meeting with head coach Jose Guardiola?

- The greatest support during the trip was given to us by an assistant of the athletic director, Andoni Zubizarreta. We held discussions with the coach of back-up team, Eusebio. Despite the busy schedule, the meeting with Jose Guardiola turned out very fruitful. This meeting will contribute to our future cooperation.

- At what level is cooperation with Barcelona planned?

- During the trip, I got a lot of new information about this team. Training sessions in the younger age groups revealed the secret of the great performance of Barcelona - everyone is trying for the team, juniors are making efforts to develop as quickly as possible and get into the main team.

While parting with them, I invited representatives of Barcelona to Baku. They accepted my invitation. I am sure that Karabakh will benefit from cooperation with Barcelona.

- They say Karabakh is like Barcelona. How do you feel about this comparison?

- (Laughs) Of course, we can only be happy about this similarity. But when you consider the real power of Barcelona, the comparison is not entirely good, although there are some similarities in the style.

- What distinctive features in Barcelona's training did you notice?

- It is remarkable that former football players are working with all the younger age groups in Barcelona. That is to say they continue playing in the style of the team. The very process of training is also attractive. It will be difficult to apply these exercises in Karabakh in the near future. But in the future, they can be used.

- You have already visited the bases of Galatasaray and Borussia Dortmund. And now you visited the base of Barcelona. Perhaps, your familiarization with the training process of the famous clubs will have a positive impact on your career ...

- We have to work for the sake of Azerbaijani football, because it lags behind European football. To develop, our players have a lot of work to do. We cannot say that we have already achieved everything, and become complacent.

- In control matches, Karabakh does not achieve high performance. The recent team practice session in Turkey is no exception - three defeats and one draw. What is the reason?

- We strive for victory in each match. But in the process of training, we cannot demonstrate proper performance. I am glad that our team is improving - the footballers have started to play faster football, while the number of misses has fallen. Difficult matches lie ahead for us. To win the right to participate in European Cups, Karabakh must win critical games.