Rauf Aliyev: "There were gaps in Qarabag's defense"

There were gaps in Qarabag's defense in the match against Athletic in the third round of the UEFA Champions League League stage.

This was stated to "Report" by Rauf Aliyev, a former member of the Aghdam club and the Azerbaijani national team.

The veteran striker emphasized that Athletic is a quality and fast team:

"It was expected that the match would be difficult for Qarabag. Because Athletic had lost in the previous two games. They saw this match as a chance to win. It is a team with quality defenders, goalkeepers, star players, and good performance. In general, Spanish clubs play very well with the ball. They are fast, technically and tactically strong. They almost did not slow down the pace of the game until the last minute. Because they play in a fast championship. Qarabag is different. There were gaps in the defense. In my opinion, if Marko Jankovic had been in better shape and on the field from the beginning, maybe the result would have been different. The team seemed to be suffering. For example, Kadi did not have a good match."

Rauf Aliyev, who once played against the Bilbao representative as a football player in the squad of "Inter" (now "Shamakhi"), emphasized that there has been no serious change in the level of the team since that period:

"We faced the same situation. The atmosphere in the stadium, the pace of the game, the speed of the players were almost the same. In our time, Athletic also had good players in its squad."

It should be noted that the Athletic - Qarabag match held at the "San Mames" stadium in Bilbao ended with a 3:1 victory for the Spanish club.