“Right now, Qarabag is carrying the weight of Azerbaijani football. Our prayers are with them.”
These words were said by former Azerbaijan national team and Qarabag winger Afran Ismayilov in his comments to fanat.az regarding the upcoming match in Spain.
He noted that the team’s fighting spirit is a source of pride for both Azerbaijan and its people:
“I expect a lot from Qarabag. The Azerbaijani representative has already reached a new stage of development. The Agdam team has proven, and continues to prove, that they are capable of achieving greater things than we anticipated. Let’s be honest, none of us expected such a performance from the team in the match against Benfica. If Qarabag’s comeback from 0–2 delighted us all, the victory over Copenhagen proved that result was no coincidence. Qarabag is the pride of us all.
Of course, Athletic is one of Spain’s well-known clubs, and there’s no need to elaborate on their quality. But since Qarabag has already crossed boundaries and has a superb coach like Gurban Gurbanov, I have great hope. Right now, Qarabag is carrying the weight of Azerbaijani football. Our prayers are with them. I believe Qarabag can return from Bilbao with at least one point. If the players execute Gurban Gurbanov’s instructions at a high level and make use of the chances they get, they can return home with points and make us proud once again.”
It should be noted that the Athletic – Qarabag match will kick off on October 22 at 20:45 (Baku time).
