Idman.biz
"Ravan Hamzazade, who managed yesterday's game, is one of the experienced referees. What I like about him is that he doesn't stop the game often."
These words were said by Rustam Rahimov, an all-Union category referee, while commenting on the referee's decisions in the return match between "Sabah" and "Qarabag" teams in the semi-final stage of the Bizon Azerbaijan Cup.
He said that the head referee Ravan Hamzazade managed the match well.
"Ravan also has few problems in the games of the Azerbaijan championship. He has the ability to read the game well. Yesterday's match was difficult. I would say that we have not watched such an interesting game in Azerbaijan in recent years. It was like watching a match of the English or Spanish championships. We have to talk according to the rules. The red card given to "Qarabag" goalkeeper Mateusz Kohalsky in the 37th minute of the match was the right decision. If the ball had passed through the goal, the head referee would have been satisfied with a "yellow". However, since that episode did not end with a goal, the Polish goalkeeper was sent off," he said in a statement to AZERTAC.
R. Rahimov also spoke about the controversial episode when the ball hit the hand of Sabah midfielder Velko Simic in the penalty area during the pass of Qarabag player Kamilo Duran in the last seconds of the match:
"As you know, changes have been made to the rules of the game. In our time, a penalty would have been awarded for that episode. Because the hand was away from the body. But now it's different. Since the hand is in a natural position and the distance is close, an eleven-meter penalty is not awarded. You can't go against the rules set. If we take the new rules, Ravan Hamzazade's decisions did not affect the fate of the match."
It should be noted that based on the results of two games, "Sabah", which defeated "Qarabag" with a score of 4:3, advanced to the final. The Baku club will face "Zira" in the decisive match.
