“Having such teams come to Azerbaijan is already a victory.”
This is what Ramin Musayev, who served as president of the PFL from 2008 to 2022, said to Teleqraf while evaluating Qarabag’s opponents in the UEFA Champions League, Idman.biz reports.
He expressed confidence that the Agdam representative could earn points: “I think it’s possible to get points from 2-3 teams. Mainly, we can do this in our home games. Last season, in the group stage of the UEFA Conference League, we didn’t play badly at home against Ajax. Perhaps if Julio Romao hadn’t received a red card and left his team a man down, the score wouldn’t have been 0-3. But both Ajax and Eintracht Frankfurt are not just any teams. The only opponent you could say is ‘manageable’ is Copenhagen (laughs). Playing in the stadiums of Liverpool, Napoli, Benfica, and Athletic Bilbao, with the names Qarabag and Azerbaijan being mentioned, is already a victory. As for Chelsea, to be realistic, we’re not at that level yet. However, I believe Gurban Gurbanov will prepare his players well against them.”
Musayev also noted that Qarabag will gain valuable experience from these matches: “This is very important. Keep in mind that Qarabag performs better against strong opponents. I don’t think players from teams like Chelsea, Liverpool, or Napoli will be overconfident. Moreover, I believe they will already be a bit nervous upon hearing Qarabag’s name (laughs).”
In the UEFA Champions League group stage, Qarabag will play away matches against Liverpool (England), Benfica (Portugal), Napoli (Italy), and Athletic (Spain), and home matches against Chelsea (England), Eintracht (Germany), Ajax (Netherlands), and Copenhagen (Denmark).
Idman.biz
