"Qarabağ" has not yet secured a place in the League stage of the UEFA Champions League.
This was stated by Aslan Kerimov, former captain of the Azerbaijani national team and "Qarabağ", in an interview with "Report".
He commented on the match "Qarabağ" played against "Ferencváros" (Hungary) in the Champions League play-off stage the previous day:
"Our representative gained a good advantage away. However, it cannot be said definitively that "Qarabağ" has resolved the issue. This is football, and anything can happen. Hopefully, the result in the Baku match will be as we want it to be".
The expert said that despite the victory on the road, the Aghdam representative did not show a perfect game:
"The result is excellent, but I don't think "Qarabağ" played perfectly. That is, there were mistakes in the defense of both "Ferencváros" and "Qarabağ". We conceded a goal in our net because of one of those mistakes. Even in several goal episodes, the opponent was lucky. This means that nothing is over yet. But realistically speaking, we have a great chance to reach the League stage".
A. Kerimov stated that the Hungarian club experienced stagnation in the second half:
"In fact, "Ferencváros" performed as I expected. They pressed in the first half and attacked quickly. In several episodes, they prevented "Qarabağ" from switching from defense to attack. But in the second half, they seemed to stop. Naturally, this was also due to fatigue. "Qarabağ" was able to score the necessary goals by making the most of it".
It should be noted that "Qarabağ" won the first match of the Champions League play-off stage against "Ferencváros" 3:1 away. The return match between the parties will take place on August 27 at the Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium. The winning side will participate in the main stage of the UEFA Champions League, and the losing side will participate in the Europa League.