FC Qarabag arrive home to heroes' welcome after historic success
By Amina Nazarli
The triumphant FC Qarabag squad had a heroes' welcome upon their return to Azerbaijan after securing the place among Europe's elite clubs by eliminating København.
In a show of support, hundreds of fans arrived at the Baku International Airport to get a glimpse of their returning stars.
Fans, representatives of the sports community, residents of Baku and family members have gathered at the capital`s main airport to welcome home FC Qarabag, which became a first Azerbaijani football club to reach the UEFA Champions League group stage.
FC Qarabag has opened a new page in the history of Azerbaijani football, reaching the group stage of the UEFA Champions League.
In the UEFA Champions League play-offs for the first time, Qarabagh FC was able to defeat a more experienced team.
Although Qarabagh lost to København in return match (2:1) due to the victory in Baku with a score 1: 0 the team has qualified to the group stage.
Even after tens of years, Azerbaijanis will remember and be proud of FC Qarabag, head coach Gurban Gurbanov and every player of the team that created the ordinary miracle. After the final whistle, Gurbanov did not hold back his tears. Now he's a legend for Azerbaijan!
Commenting on the club's entry into the group stage of the Champions League, the head coach was extremely brief.
“I congratulate the Azerbaijani people, fans, and in general everyone. We are happy that we were able to please our country. It is very important for our football to present in such tournaments. Playing in the group stage of the Champions League will be very useful for us and for the country,” he said.
While their travelling supporters partied in and around the stadium in Denmark following the historic achievement, fans back in Baku took to the streets in celebrations.
Fans across the city erupted into jubilation. Thousands of jubilant supporters turned the centre of Baku into a huge street party amid a sea of emotion. Flags waved from cars as jubilant fans celebrated in the streets of the capital city and chanted: "Karabakh"!
Traffic was brought to a standstill as fans young and old danced in the streets to the unrelenting accompaniment of sounding car horns.
Youth and Sport Minister Azad Rahimov also congratulated the national club, noting that along with the fact that the footballers glorify the historical Azerbaijani land of Karabakh, they also wrote down the club's name in the football history.
“Yesterday, thousands of people gathered together to share the joy of victory. I thank the whole team for the sense of pride that they allowed us to feel. I congratulate them and wish them new victories,” he said.
Rovnag Abdullayev, the president of the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan, also shared the joy of the success.
"We are very happy that we witnessed this historic success of FC Qarabag,” he said. “Qarabag patiently, step by step progressed to success and, finally, was able to please all.”
The UEFA Champions League group stage draw will be held on Thursday at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.
On the eve, the composition of the baskets during the draw of the group stage of the Champions League was announced. "Karabagh" entered the fourth basket with CSKA (Russia), Celtic (Scotland), Feyenoord (Netherlands), Maribor (Slovenia), Leipzig (Germany), APOEL (Cyprus) and Sporting (Portugal).
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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli
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