Idman.biz
Aghdam's "Qarabağ" club first repeated its anti-record last night, and then rewrote the history of Azerbaijani football once again.
Idman.Biz reports that they first repeated their negative indicator with a 0:6 defeat to Liverpool. Thus, "Qarabağ" lost to another English giant, "Chelsea", with the same score on September 12, 2017 in the group stage of the Champions League (now known as the main stage).
History was rewritten for the second time immediately after the final whistle of Slovak referee Ivan Krujlyak. This whistle formalized not only the devastating defeat of Gurban Gurbanov's team, but also their great victory - "Qarabağ"'s first promotion to the play-off stage of the Champions League in its history and in the history of Azerbaijani football as a whole.
Yes, Liverpool's longest trip was remembered by its rival with truly contradictory feelings. A 7-hour flight, a distance of 4,157 kilometers, six unanswered goals, and yet, to be among the top 24 clubs in the current Champions League season. Indeed, only Gurban Gurbanov could do this. In this eight-match main stage, "Qarabağ" gave local football fans so many different and strong emotions that their impact will be enough for several more European Cup seasons.
First, a magnificent comeback in the game against Benfica (3:2) and a confident victory over Copenhagen (2:0). Then an unexpected "landing" from Bilbao "Athletic" (1:3) and an equally unexpected rise after the game with "Chelsea" (2:2). Then a predictable defeat to Napoli (0:2) and a completely unexpected fiasco from Ajax (2:4), who had no points until then. Finally, at the end of this "Marlezon ballet", a magnificent and determined victory over "Eintracht" (3:2) and then an equally devastating and completely unmotivated defeat from "Liverpool" (0:6).
But as the great coach Valeri Lobanovski said, "the game is forgotten, but the result remains forever." In this case, the result is simply magnificent - promotion to the play-off stage of the Champions League. Moreover, clubs such as Napoli, Ajax, as well as the famous Marseille and Villarreal have been eliminated from the tournament.
"Qarabağ", which finished the main stage of the Champions League in 22nd place, must now wait to see who its next opponent will be. This will be PSG or Newcastle, who finished the main stage in 11th and 12th place, respectively. But no matter who the opponent is, one thing is clear: this club is not expecting an easy game. "Qarabağ" has already proved that it can compete on an equal footing with any opponent, even the intercontinental world champion. So why be afraid of facing the current champion of the Champions League?
