Today, UEFA Champions League Third Qualifying Round will start.
As Idman.biz reports, Azerbaijan's champion Qarabag will host Ludogorets.
This is the 3rd duel of our teams with Bulgarian clubs. No matter how strange it sounds, Qarabag will meet the opponent from this country for the first time. Although our representative, who played the most games in the European Cups, appeared in enough matches, they did not cross paths with the Bulgarians. Only 2 duels of Azerbaijani clubs took place in 30 years. 15 years have passed since the last such meeting.
The games with the Bulgarian clubs were marked by the firsts for the Azerbaijani teams. Having won our first victory in the European Cups, Neftchi beat Lokomotiv in Baku.
That match also went down in history as the first European Cup match at the Tofig Bahramov Stadium. Until then, our representatives hosted their rivals at the Mehdi Huseynzade City Stadium.
Another first happened in 2009. Baku, which could not pass the Levski Sofia barrier, became the first Azerbaijani club in the history of European Cups to qualify for the playoffs. Failure in the Champions League led the "striped" to the Europa League play-offs.
Both Neftchi and Baku have not lost at home. The undefeated streak did not end well in the away match. Both Azerbaijani teams stopped the fight after losing with a clean score on the opponent's field.
Another point is related to the location of the first games. It has almost become a tradition that the first match against the Bulgarians is played in Baku, and the return match is played away. He will continue this tradition in Qarabag and Ludogorets.
Azerbaijani clubs vs Bulgarians
1996/97, UEFA Cup
I qualifying round
Neftchi - Lokomotiv (Sofia) - 2:1, 0:6
2009/10, Champions League
III qualifying round
Baku - Levski Sofia - 0:0, 0:2
The game Qarabag - Ludogorets will start at 20:00.
Vugar Kheyrullayev
Idman.biz
