Sport24.az
The president of "Sabah," Maqsud Adigozalov, commented on his team's 3-3 draw with "Qarabagh" in the 22nd round of the Misli Premier League and the events that occurred at the end of the match. Sport24.az reports that the club president made a statement to Azerisport.com about this:
"First of all, I want to say that we witnessed a truly spectacular game. The match between "Sabah" and "Qarabagh" was lively, emotional, and of high quality. Two strong teams, high tempo, and real football... We were leading 3-0, but our opponent managed to resist. Such comebacks are an integral part of football.
I would also like to thank the fans of both teams. The atmosphere was fantastic and broke a new attendance record. This is further proof of the growing interest in Azerbaijani football. Therefore, I wouldn't want the attention to be focused on what happened at the end of the match after such a beautiful game."
Regarding the fight that occurred in the final minutes of the match, Adigozalov did not justify the actions of one of the team's coaches and also mentioned similar incidents:
"Yes, an emotional situation arose at the end of the match. Our assistant coach was talking to the referee, and at that moment, someone from the bench of reserve players gestured to him to be quiet. In response, our representative made an emotional and inappropriate gesture, and he had no right to do so.
"Sabah" Football Club considers this kind of behavior unacceptable. This does not align with our traditions, culture, and the values we support. We have spoken with him. We did not justify what happened based solely on emotions inherent in football. On the contrary, our coach considered it necessary to apologize not only off the field but also at the press conference. And regardless of which club such an incident occurred against, we would do the same. Even if the representatives of "Qarabagh" had not paid attention to this incident, we would have apologized. The culture of apology does not depend on status, dignity, or names.
By the way, speaking of the culture of apology, I would like to remind you that in the 2023/24 season, in the "Qarabagh"-"Sabah" match, when the opponent scored in the last seconds, an incident occurred where one of "Qarabagh's" players gestured to our reserve players.
In addition, after the cup final, the respected Gurban Gurbanov overshadowed "Sabah's" victory in his post-match interview and indirectly questioned its "cleanliness." These words were later attributed to emotions - just like the exotic dance performed by one of the players in front of our goalkeeper after scoring, which, in our opinion, is not in line with our traditions. Unfortunately, our friends did not consider it necessary to apologize at that time and attributed everything to emotions. We were silent in order not to apologize or escalate the situation, because we understand that in the heat of battle, things sometimes happen that shouldn't. Therefore, such a strong reaction to this episode surprised us a bit.
"Our position remains unchanged: respect for the game, respect for the opponent, and moving forward. Let's talk about football, the quality of the match, and the development of our championship, without allowing individual incidents to overshadow the overall picture."
