“It is difficult to talk about the Sabah – Celje matches because the season is just starting and both teams are playing their first official games,” said Aslan Karimov, head of the Coaches’ Education Department at AFFA, while assessing the chances of Sabah, who will face Slovenia’s Celje in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League, Idman.biz reports.
He noted that the Azerbaijan Cup winner has changed compared to previous seasons: “There is a big difference between Valdas Dambrauskas and the former Russian coach Vasiliy Berezutskiy. As for the opponent, they are a strong team. Their head coach is the well-known Spanish specialist Albert Riera. His playing style focuses on good ball possession and building combinational attacks. Celje has players with high individual qualities. But Celje is not an unbeatable team. In terms of chances, I consider the opponent to be stronger. This is due to the factors I mentioned.”
Karimov also highlighted that the Azerbaijani side is dangerous on the wings: “Sabah has fast wingers, one of whom is Khayal Aliyev. Valdas Dambrauskas can punish the opponent from this position. However, I cannot predict the score.”
The Sabah – Celje match will take place today at 20:00 at the Bank Respublika Arena. The game will be officiated by a referee team from Kazakhstan. The return match will be held a week later in Slovenia.
Idman.biz
