Sport24.az
The opponent that "Araz-Nakhchivan" will face in the 1/8 final stage of the UEFA Futsal Champions League is very strong. Sport24.az reports that the captain of the Nakhchivan representative, Emin Kurdov, said this in his statement to the press service of the Azerbaijan Futsal Federation.
He emphasized the importance of qualifying for the 1/8 finals after 11 years:
"We qualified for this stage after 11 years. This time the competition will be held in a different format. Now, instead of the elite round, the 1/8 final stage is applied. There were no weak participants among the teams in the basket, so we knew it would be difficult. But if the draw had smiled on us, it would have been possible to face a relatively weaker team compared to our current opponent."
Kurdov admitted that "Benfica" is a strong opponent, but said that his team will fight:
"This time we will face "Benfica", which is in the second place in the ranking table. They have quality, strong futsal players in their squad. Nevertheless, we will fight. Unfortunately, our squad is not fully optimal. After the main stage, two of our futsal players were suspended, and one player was injured in the matches in Romania."
The futsal player also noted that they rely on the support of fans in the home game:
"We will prepare for the game, and we will also receive instructions from the coaching staff. Since we are playing at home, we believe that the fans will come to the arena and support our team regardless of the result. We have time until November 24, and we will try to make the most of this time."
It should be noted that Araz-Nakhchivan will face the Portuguese club Benfica in the 1/8 final stage of the UEFA Champions League. If the team qualifies for the 1/4 finals, it will face the winner of the AEK (Greece) - Sporting (Portugal) pair. The first match of the 1/8 final between the teams will be held on November 24 in Baku, and the return match will be held on December 5 at the opponent's field.
