"Zira" head coach links Champions League difficulty to tournament format

The format of the Champions League in minifootball created considerable difficulties for the "Zira" team. Sport24.az reports that this was stated by the head coach of the capital's representative, Elshad Guliyev, in an interview with "Report".

He said that the team did not adapt to such a system: "The main difficulty was related to the format of the competition. Sometimes we played two games a day. The kids haven't adapted to this system. In the Azerbaijani championship, we play once a week. In this case, it is impossible to prepare for any opponent. I think if this factor hadn't existed, we would have achieved a good result."

The expert said that he was satisfied with the team's performance, despite the fact that they stopped fighting in the 1/4 final stage of the tournament held in Bulgaria this year: "Despite the fact that our team was formed from new players, we prepared for the Champions League at the required level. The kids showed themselves in a good light. Despite the fact that very strong teams participated in the tournament. We showed that it is possible to achieve better. We finished the group stage in the first place. We scored 7 points in 3 games. The Montenegrin representative we faced in the 1/8 finals was considered one of the strongest in the championship. We defeated our opponent and qualified for the 1/4 finals. Here we lost to the local team. Despite the defeat, we created many goal situations, but we could not use them."

It should be noted that Azerbaijan is represented by three clubs in the minifootball Champions League. "Aznur" stopped fighting in the play-off stage. "Zira" and "Birbaşa Bakı" stopped in the 1/4 finals.