SENSATION

Baki and Karabakh have enhanced the reputation of Azerbaijani football clubs in European cup competitions. After beating Lithuania's Ekranas over two legs (2:2, 4:2), in the second qualifying stage of the Champions League, Baki is to play Bulgaria's Levski. Karabakh created a sensation in the Europa League, knocking out Rosenborg and continuing its international odyssey.

Raging Felix

Baki have prepared quite seriously for European cup matches since their first, painful experience of the Champions League. A few years ago Baki dropped out of the race in the first round, giving way to Georgia's Sioni. However, much has changed since then - the team has stabilised and has been reinforced by a number of good players. We should also not forget the coaches - the current team has been created by Macedonian Gjoko Hadzievski, who once worked with the Azerbaijani national team. Baki's opponents, Ekranas, did not seem so unbeatable, as was confirmed in the end. However, these games revealed a number of problems in the club, especially in defence. Anyway, let's take first things first.

After a productive training session in Slovenia, the team was staffed by players who soon began to determine its style. The coaches picked newcomers from Brazil who showed up well in the following matches. The major acquisition was Felix Felipe, who was previously with Nalchik's Spartak where he had arrived from his native Atletico Paranaense. However, the forward's Russian career did not go well: he did not distinguished himself as a striker in 19 matches last season. However, Hadzievski thought that the newcomer had every chance of doing well in his new team, given the basketball dimensions of the South American - 197 cm tall and weighing 95 kg. He has proved to be right - the South American scored in Panevezys, and recorded a double in the return match in Baku.

Despite their victory at the Republic's Tofiq Bahramov stadium, the home team's play highlighted a number of issues. The team missed several goal-scoring chances in the match and the defence once again failed to play at its best, conceding two goals to Ekranas. In the two matches against the Lithuanians, Baki gave away four goals and this fact does not inspire much optimism, even though the team scores plenty and the Brazilian rookie Felix has fitted into the team as if he had been playing there all his life. Although the home side needed a goalless draw to make their way to the next round, the team, naturally, played to win. However, in the first half, Baki missed some opportunities, especially one incomprehensible miss by Felix. We must say that a goal was on the cards, as the players had hit the woodwork several times. 

And, after the break, the fans saw six goals. Also as in Panevezys, two goals were scored in extra time: Solic made the score 4:1, but in the next attack, the Lithuanians, by way of work from Gleveckas, responded with an efficient shot. So, although Baki made it through to the next round, they need to work hard to strengthen their defence, especially in light of their next fixture with the Bulgarian champions. Further, our team suffered significant losses before the first match with Levski, goalkeeper Khaled Sissoko and midfielder Baxtiyar Soltanov having to miss the match because of yellow cards. Incidentally, the latter was the only Azerbaijani to play in both games against Ekranas.

Significantly, Baki became the third Azerbaijani club to get through the first stage of the Champions League. Previously, only Samkir and Neftci had managed to do this, so now Hadzievski's team bear additional responsibility and, by overcoming Levski, they can write a new page in the history of Azerbaijani football. And it will be extremely difficult to do so, especially as the Bulgarian champions are favourites in this tie, although the first match in Baku showed that the host team could easily overcome their opponents. Levski are much stronger than Ekranas, but Baki had chances to win, however the scoreboard displayed only "zeros" at the end.

They only just fell short of scoring - first Fernando Perez did not have enough time to finish off an attack following Amiran Mujiri's shot from the penalty area and then goalkeeper Georgi Petkov was able to cover Batista's right foot shot after Fabio Luiz's pass. The latter, by the way, could have become the hero of the match, when he nearly drove the ball into the opposition goal at the end of the match, almost getting past Petkov. At the same time, at the beginning of the second half, Felix left the pitch and was taken away on a stretcher after a karate-style strike from the side by defender Rabeh on the Brazilian. The Norwegian referee, however, did not see this episode, otherwise our team would probably have had a penalty.

 Either way, the goalless draw in Baku gives a better chance to the opposition but, on the other hand, one goal in the away match could completely change the picture of the game. By and large, the task of the Azerbaijani champions has not changed - they need to score to progress.

Rasad Sadixov's super-shot

Meanwhile, Karabakh created the main sensation of the Europa League, knocking out Rosenborg. Having drawn in the away match (0:0), the Agdam team celebrated a home victory through the efforts of Rasad Sadixov, with a tremendous shot - 1:0. He was the main hero of the match, not just in defence, but also in attack.

Rosenborg were considered favourites, especially against the background of their success in the international arena. This was this team that beat Milan at the San Siro stadium and won a number of other equally brilliant victories. However, in recent years, Norwegian football has been losing ground, affecting the performance of both clubs and the national team. Thus, despite the questions about the credibility of the Norwegians, they were recognized as favourites, due to their previous victories. However, the first match in Trondheim showed that Karabakh were psychologically prepared for the game with a titled rival and were able to withstand the pressure.

Of course, the match was dominated by the home team, in which Stefan Iversen played a specific role. More than once he was on the edge of the attack and was dangerous at corner kicks, but our defensive line, led by goalkeeper Farhad Valiyev, played well. In addition, the involvement in Karabakh of national team captain Rasad Sadixov, who played very well and once again attracted the attention of foreign scouts, was quite a help for Karabakh. Rasad agreed to help the club only in European matches and wants to continue his career abroad.

However, let's move on to the return game which decided the tie. Despite their status as favourites, the club from Trondheim did not create any great problems for Qurban Qurbanov's team. While in the past Rosenborg have played elegantly, making tangible progress on the European scene, the current team was just a shadow of its former self. The Norwegians preferred to play directly, and this only eased the work of the Karabakh defensive line, which worked as a single mechanism. Although, of course, the leader of the defence was national team captain Rasad Sadixov, the other players did well, too. It is gratifying that the home team, focusing on defence, launched dangerous counterattacks and could have punished their opponents many times, let alone the long-range shot from Vaqif Cavadov, from which the ball landed on the crossbar.

In general, long shots were Karabakh's trademark in the match, while the goal, scored from a direct strike, deserves special mention. In the 45th minute, the same Cavadov rolled the ball for Sadixov to shoot, and he sent the ball in under the crossbar in the best traditions of Roberto Carlos. The goal inspired the host team, given that the match day (23 July) coincided with the anniversary of the occupation of Agdam. Naturally, on such a special day, the team wanted to please their fans, and this worked out well. Despite all their efforts, the Norwegians failed to score an equalizer and, what's more, the Karabakh goalkeeper Farhad Valiyev rose to the occasion and appeared quite confident. So this was a sensation, and our team knocked out a formidable rival, forcing all of football Europe to take notice. The team will battle Finland's Honka in the third round of the European Cup in the role of examiner.

This was the second time in its history that the Agdam team had got through a round of the European Cup. Once they progressed following two matches with Maccabi from Haifa, in the Intertoto Cup, before losing to France's Montpellier. But this team has a greater chance of success as head coach Qurban Qurbanov has assembled players who can meet the challenge. This was already evident in the home stretch of the national championship, when the club took points from Inter and deprived it of first place and then beat the "bankers" in the final of the National Cup. Actually, this victory enabled Karabakh to enter the struggle in the Europa League at the second stage - UEFA head Michel Platini had decided to raise the status of national champions in this way. In short, the Agdam team have summoned up their courage and now anything can be expected of them. Karabakh remain the sole representative of Azerbaijan in the Europa League, after the early elimination of Inter and Simurq. So, they have to play for three.