Karabakh FC enters 3 qualifying round of UEFA Champions League
By Nigar Orujova
Azerbaijani football club Karabakh entered the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League with an overwhelming win on Maltese Valetta.
Karabakh scored four times in the second match with Valetta at the Tofig Bahramov stadium in Baku on July 22.
Winning goals were knocked by Reynaldo, Chumbinho, Danilo Dias and Leroy George.
Midfielder of Karabakh Danilo Dias said: "I am very glad to win and to score my first goal for the team. This victory was very necessary to us. It is very pleasant to triumph before own stands. In the next round, we will try to win again."
A week ago, Karabakh beat Valetta 1-0 in the first game at the Ta' Qali National Stadium in Malta.
Next, the Azerbaijan club will meet with Austrian Salzburg in Baku on July 30. The second leg in Austria is expected to be held on August 6.
President of the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan (AFFA) Rovnag Abdullayev and President of club Abdulbari Gozal congratulated residents of Aghdam on their victory and access to the next qualifying round of the Champions League.
They wished the team success in the next match.
Abdullayev said: "I believe that after the victory of Karabakh, other clubs would also reach to the next round."
He said Austrian Salzburg is very strong and matches with this club will be difficult.
"We must well prepare and beat them. Before the game, I reminded the players that tomorrow (July 23) is the day of occupation of Agdam by Armenians. Today's victory became, though weak, but a consolation for residents of Aghdam," he stressed.
Karabakh Aghdam club, formed in 1951, is one of the two teams in Azerbaijan, along with Neftchi Baku that has participated in all Azerbaijan Premier League championships to date.
The club is immensely well supported around Azerbaijan mainly because it is the only team representing war-torn Nagorno-Karabakh region in the league.
Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s.
Long-standing efforts by U.S, Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.