Azerbaijani champion Qarabag will start the main stage of the 2024/25 European Cup season tomorrow.
Gurban Gurbanov’s team will compete in the UEL League phase, Idman.biz reports.
Aghdam club will face Tottenham. Tomorrow's match in London will start at 23:00 Baku time.
11th in History, 9th in EL
Qarabag has established itself as a consistent competitor in European tournaments, reaching the autumn stage of European Cups 10 times so far. The team, led by Gurban Gurbanov, has succeeded in all three major European competitions. In the 2017/18 season, Qarabag advanced to the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, and in the 2021/22 season, they repeated this feat in the UEFA Conference League. Their first breakthrough came in the 2014/15 season, when they reached the Europa League group stage—a tournament they have now qualified for eight times. The upcoming season marks Qarabag’s 11th appearance in the main rounds of European competition and their 9th in the Europa League.
This Time in a Different Format
From the 2024/25 season, a new format is being implemented in all three European cup tournaments. The usual group stage is replaced by a new one - the League stage. Qarabag is among the participants in the first year of this innovation. Aghdam club is the first and so far the only representative of Azerbaijan to try this format. Gurbanov's team experienced the excitement of the previous 10 main stages in the group. At that time, Qarabag was among 32 participants divided into 8 groups with 4 teams each. The Aghdam club played a total of 6 home and away matches against three opponents each time and tried to take as high a position as possible in the four. This time, there will be a fight for the top position in the 36-team tournament table in 4 home and 4 away games against 8 different opponents.
Wishing for a Miracle
If we look at the previous 10 attempts of Qarabag, our champion started with a victory in the main round only once in its history. This also happened last year. Gurbanov's students defeated Molde. One goal was enough to defeat the representative of Norway. Although the victory over Tottenham in London is difficult, even considered a small miracle, Qarabag will appear for the second time in a row to start the main stage with a victory and sign a small series.
Only at Home
Qarabag won points only at home in the starting games. The first such success was realized in the debut of the group. 10 years ago, a scoreless draw was recorded with the representative of the Big Five - French Saint Etienne. Two years later, after scoring two goals against Slovan in Baku, Qarabag again got a point at home - 2:2. In 2021, the starting meeting of the Conference League with Basel also ended in a draw. At that time, the fans did not see a goal in the home game. In a word, Qarabag, which has 1 win and 3 draws in 10 starting matches, won these 6 points at home.
Breaking the “Away Curse”
In the previous 10 seasons, five of the main stages started at home and five away. Qarabag, which only lost to Seville at home, managed to score points in the other 4 matches. The first away matches ended in defeat. Azerbaijan’s representative, who returned from the opponent's field 5 times without points, made the first such trip to London 9 years ago. Qarabag, which started the round with Tottenham, lost 1:3. Gurbanov's team will appear to break the “Away Curse”.
Qarabag’s starting games in the main rounds:
18.09.2014. Saint Etienne (France) - 0:0 (e)
17.09.2015. Tottenham (England) - 1:3 (p)
15.09.2016. Slovan (Czech Republic) - 2:2 (e)
12.09.2017. Chelsea (England) - 0:6 (p)
20.09.2018. Sporting (Portugal) - 0:2 (s)
19.09.2019. Seville (Spain) - 0:3 (e)
22.10.2020. Maccabi (Tel Aviv, Israel) - 0:1 (p)
16.09.2021. Basel (Switzerland) - 0:0 (e)
09/08/2022. Freiburg (Germany) - 1:2 (p)
21.09.2023. Molde (Norway) - 1:0 (e)
Only Away Point at the Start
If Qarabag plays in the main stage for the 11th time, it will be the 14th start for Azerbaijani clubs. The first such match took place in 2012. Neftchi, which went down in history as the first Azerbaijani club to enter the group, started the main round of the Europa League with an away point. Baku club tied with Partizan in Serbia - 0:0. This is the first and last point scored in the away match in the history of Azerbaijani football. Three years later, Gabala started the group of the same tournament with a scoreless draü. But the Azerbaijan representative won the point at home. The opponent was PAOK. In the following season, the Red Blacks returned from Belgium without points. Anderlecht won three points with three goals - 3:1.
Vugar Kheyrullayev
Idman.biz
