Idman.biz
"So far, everything is going well in "Qarabağ"'s game. Both in the qualifying round games and in the meeting with "Benfica", the team was able to show itself in the best light."
These words were said by Tabriz Hasanov, a former "Qarabağ" football player in the 1990s, who currently works as a coordinator for the lower age groups of the "Sabah" academy, in his statement to qol.az.
Hasanov played 90 minutes in both matches against "Copenhagen" as part of "Qarabağ" in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in the summer of 1998. Before the match between the Aghdam club and "Copenhagen" in the 2nd round of the League stage of the UEFA Champions League today, he first talked about the matches 27 years ago (0:6, 0:4):
"There are few memories after a big defeat. At that time, our teams did not have the same preparation as now. I wouldn't say that our team was bad. But there was no preparation or conditions as desired. It can be said that all our clubs stopped fighting from the first round. And also with big defeats.
"Copenhagen" was both physically strong and played athletic football. There were also 3-4 football players in their squad who were European champions of Denmark in 1992. In the match in Denmark, they played from the first minute in such a way that we could not keep up with that tempo. Already in the 15th or 20th minute, the score was 3:0. We had more difficulties during corner kicks. They were all tall and physically strong football players. We suffered a lot. Our goalkeeper Jamaladdin Aliyev made a lot of saves. In the second half, we were able to keep up with the tempo. The goals we conceded early put us in a difficult situation. We also lost 0:4 in Baku. We tried to play with our maximum strength. But we couldn't do more. Because the team's preparation was up to that point."
Hasanov also noted that "Qarabağ" has developed a lot and is capable of defeating "Copenhagen": "Thank God, "Qarabağ" has already taken revenge for the defeats once (referring to the play-off matches of the Champions League in 2017 (1:0, 1:2) - ed.). I think that our team will win today as well. The current "Qarabağ" is capable of this. I'm not saying it will be easy. "Copenhagen" is still strong now. I watched their first round match against "Bayer". They have very good strikers. They are especially dangerous in fast counterattacks. But I believe in "Qarabağ" and wish them success. "Qarabağ" has done a lot of great things so far. I would say they jumped higher than their height."
