Idman.biz
"I can't say that the preparation went the way I wanted it to.
Due to known reasons, the team did not have training together.
We were divided into two parts - the players who went to the national team and those who stayed here".
Idman.biz reports that this was stated by the head coach of "Qarabag" Gurban Gurbanov in his statement to journalists at Heydar Aliyev International Airport before the trip to Portugal for the first round match of the Champions League main stage with "Benfica".
He stated that they tried to do their best in the fourth round match of the Premier League at home against "Zira", which ended in a 1:1 draw:
"But we had a very good team in front of us. I think this game was of great benefit to our players.
It was a one-on-one competitive game. It may be useful for us in the game against Benfica.
The national team players came back after playing two games. They were very tired, so we gave them complete rest.
We will have another training session tomorrow. We will try to show a good game against a good opponent.
Everyone in our squad is in shape except Nariman Akhundzade".
