QARABAĞ FK
@
Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium
(not their usual stadium, UEFA being woke with stadia as per)
Our first knockout European tie since Benfica in the 2012-13 Europa League and our first knockout tie in the Champions League ever sees us travel to Baku, Azerbaijan. The furthest east we have ever travelled for a competitive European match as far as I know. Second only to Kairat Almaty's trip to Lisbon in terms of miles, we will travel approximately 2350 miles eastward. Qarabag are a club that originated in Aghdam in the Karabakh region, but has not played there since 1993 due to the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, a conflict that still affects all of the countries in the Caucasus region. They play their European matches at Azerbaijan's national stadium rather than their usual home of the Azersun Stadium which only holds 5800 fans.
They won the Azerbaijani Premier League, their first league title in 21 years, in 2014 and have since continued to be the standard bearers for Azerbaijan in UEFA competitions. They've since won the Azerbaijani Premier League 12 times and Azerbaijan Cup 8 times. They became the second Azerbaijani team after Neftçi PFK to advance to the group stage of a European competition, making the UEFA Europa League group stage in 2014–15. Qarabağ is also the first Azerbaijani team to advance to the group stage of the higher UEFA Champions League, first time in the 2017–18. Now, they have played more UEFA matches than any other Azerbaijani team.
LAST TIME OUT?
We've never played them before nor any side from Azerbaijan. This is the furthest east we have played a competitive match since we beat Israeli side Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin 5-1 in 2004 under Graeme Souness in the UEFA Cup. (I think anyway; we played Anzhi Makhachkala in 2012-13 in Moscow as we couldn't play them in their home region of Dagestan due to more post-Soviet conflict. Is Moscow further east than Israel? Nee clue. Can't be arsed to check either. At least it wasn't almost in Asia. )
We have played a club from a Caucasus nation in Europe before with Dinamo Tbilisi from Georgia though that was only 1 match and at SJP. Same season as the Bnei Sakhnin match. We won that 2-0.
WHAT ABOUT THEM NOW?
They've been a moderately surprise package in the Champions League this season, finishing 22nd on 10 points. They won their first match away at Benfica 3-2 after going 2-0 down, a result which saw the sacking of Bruno Lage. They then won another 2 home games against Copenhagen and Eintracht Frankfurt, 2-0 and 3-2 respectively. Chelsea were also held by them in Baku 2-2, losing their other home game to Ajax 2-4.
That draw with Chelsea is the first time they have avoided defeat to an English club in Europe. Their record against PL sides is P4 W0 D1 L3. F2 A18.
Quite a long trip but another eminently winnable tie. Even if it goes slightly wrong and we come out with a draw or narrow defeat, I still have confidence that we can progress through this tie with the second leg at SJP to come. Howay the lads!
QARABAĞ FK @ Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium (not their usual stadium, UEFA being woke with stadia as per) Our first knockout European tie since Benfica in the 2012-13 Europa League and our first knockout tie in the Champions League ever sees us travel to Baku, Azerbaijan. The furthest east we have ever travelled for a competitive European match as far as I know. Second only to Kairat Almaty's trip to Lisbon in terms of miles, we will travel approximately 2350 miles eastward. Qarabag are a club that originated in Aghdam in the Karabakh region, but has not played there since 1993 due to the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, a conflict that still affects all of the countries in the Caucasus region. They play their European matches at Azerbaijan's national stadium rather than their usual home of the Azersun Stadium which only holds 5800 fans. They won the Azerbaijani Premier League, their first league title in 21 years, in 2014 and have since continued to be the standard bearers for Azerbaijan in UEFA competitions. They've since won the Azerbaijani Premier League 12 times and Azerbaijan Cup 8 times. They became the second Azerbaijani team after Neftçi PFK to advance to the group stage of a European competition, making the UEFA Europa League group stage in 2014–15. Qarabağ is also the first Azerbaijani team to advance to the group stage of the higher UEFA Champions League, first time in the 2017–18. Now, they have played more UEFA matches than any other Azerbaijani team. LAST TIME OUT? We've never played them before nor any side from Azerbaijan. This is the furthest east we have played a competitive match since we beat Israeli side Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin 5-1 in 2004 under Graeme Souness in the UEFA Cup. (I think anyway; we played Anzhi Makhachkala in 2012-13 in Moscow as we couldn't play them in their home region of Dagestan due to more post-Soviet conflict. Is Moscow further east than Israel? Nee clue. Can't be arsed to check either. At least it wasn't almost in Asia. ) We have played a club from a Caucasus nation in Europe before with Dinamo Tbilisi from Georgia though that was only 1 match and at SJP. Same season as the Bnei Sakhnin match. We won that 2-0. WHAT ABOUT THEM NOW? They've been a moderately surprise package in the Champions League this season, finishing 22nd on 10 points. They won their first match away at Benfica 3-2 after going 2-0 down, a result which saw the sacking of Bruno Lage. They then won another 2 home games against Copenhagen and Eintracht Frankfurt, 2-0 and 3-2 respectively. Chelsea were also held by them in Baku 2-2, losing their other home game to Ajax 2-4. That draw with Chelsea is the first time they have avoided defeat to an English club in Europe. Their record against PL sides is P4 W0 D1 L3. F2 A18. Quite a long trip but another eminently winnable tie. Even if it goes slightly wrong and we come out with a draw or narrow defeat, I still have confidence that we can progress through this tie with the second leg at SJP to come. Howay the lads!
