Today at 21:45, the first match of the 1/16 finals of the conferences league between the champion of Azerbaijan Karabakh and the Belgian Genth will begin at the Republican Stadium.
The match will be judged by a team of arbitrators from Sweden led by Mohammed al-Khakim. Video assistants will be representatives of Poland Bartosh Frankovsky and Pavel Pskit.
Recently, Karabakh has encountered serious personnel problems. The team was left by the leading football players – Kadi and Ovus Kvaben. There are injured players, including goalkeeper Shakhrudin Magomedaliev. Despite all the attempts, Karabakh could not find the goalkeeper to replace Magomedaliev. As a result, Gurban Gurbanov comes out to the most important games with the Gont, having at his disposal absolutely unreliable, as past matches showed, Georgian goalkeeper Luki Guughashvili and 20-year-old Amin Ramazanov. Judging by the fact that in the last three games of the championship the gate defended Ramazanov, most likely, it was Gurbanov that would entrust the number one post.
will not be able to take part in matches with Genth and Colombian defender Kevin Medina, who received a direct red card in the final match of the group of the European League against the German Freiburg. And the newcomers of the Agdam team – Yassin Benia, Adam Diacabi and the Redon Dzhij – are only gaining shape and are not ready for 100 percent.
Earlier, Karabakh met with Belgian clubs twice. In the 2011/12 season, Agdams in the 3rd qualification round of the Europa League played with Bruges. After an exit defeat with a score of 1: 4 “Karabakh” in Baku defeated 1: 0.
The team of Gurban Gurbanov managed to win the next home match against the Belgians. At the group stage of the Europa League -2015/16, the champion of Azerbaijan won at Anderlecht Baku – 1: 0. True, in the return match, the Brussels managed to take revenge (2: 1) and go to the next round. “Karabakh” then took 4th place in the group, missing the English “Tottenham” and the French “Monaco”
The fact that Karabakh won both home matches with the Belgians seriously worries the Belgian press before today’s game. And the summer-autumn results of our team in the Champions League and the Europa League make guests even more respect the champion of Azerbaijan.
However, unfortunately, now Karabakh is far from the level that he demonstrated in qualifications and the group stage. Nevertheless, we will believe that today everything will be successful for the Agdams, and Karabakh will go to the Genta, which will take place on February 23 with a good mood.