"This is a holiday, we are in Khankendi. As the president said, we are in our own land. Long live Qarabag! It's definitely great."
Igor Ponomaryov, the former head coach of the Azerbaijan national football team, a member of the Supervisory Board of Sabah, told Idman.biz while evaluating the historic game between Qarabag and MOIK held in Khankendi.
The official of the Baku representative said that he wanted the "military" to win: "It would be better if MOIK won. Otherwise, we have to play the next game against Qarabag. That's why I looked at this game in a different way."
Ponomaryov emphasized that they are happy that the game will be held in Khankendi: "Everyone who came here - Mashallah Ahmadov, Iskandar Javadov, Asim Khudiyev, players of the next generation - Mahmud Gurbanov, Ilgar Gurbanov, Tarlan Ahmadov, Yunis Huseynov - we all appreciate this amazing event.
The former head coach of the national team spoke about the meeting with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev at the Khankendi stadium and his warm attitude towards the athletes: "None of us is left out of the attention of Mr. President. He came to us, met all of us, took a souvenir photo. Ilham Aliyev wished us success, and we, in turn, wished him good health and the best in everything. The President's attention to athletes is truly proud. He does a lot for Azerbaijan in domestic as well as foreign policy. We are proud of him."
It should be noted that Qarabag, which defeated MOIK with a score of 1:0, was a rival to Sabah in the 1/4 finals of the Azerbaijan Cup.
Idman.biz
