Azerbaijani teams play 1st matches of Europa League group stage
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By Nigar Orujova
Two Azerbaijani clubs played their first matches of the group stage at the UEFA Europa League on September 17.
Gabala football club received Greece’s PAOK in Baku, ending in a goalless draw.
The match brought Gabala its first point in the group stage of the tournament.
Commenting on the game, Gabala head coach Roman Grigorchuk said, “I believe that today we were closer to victory.”
“We have studied PAOK very well. In something we were inferior, in another we prevailed. PAOK is an organized team. Today, they have chosen a version of the game, which has long been used,” he explained.
He added that the team want to play better during the attacks, and will be working in this direction.
Gabala team President Tale Heydarov, said, “I think that we played well and fought. Of course, everyone was waiting for a victory.”
“We have challenging opponents in the group. We will try to adequately represent Azerbaijan. If we reached the group round, we want to go further. Now it is our goal,” he added.
Another Azerbaijani team, Qarabag, represening Azerbaijan for the second year in a row, gave way to the English club Tottenham in a visit match. The game in London ended with 3:1 in favor for Tottenham.
Head coach of Tottenham Mauricio Pochettino said, “Qarabag is a good team. They played well and this match was not easy. It was especially hard after a missed fast goal from the penalty. However, I'm happy that the team [Tottenham] was able to find the strength to fight back and win.”
Pochettino said that the Qarabag game was no surprise to him, as they have watched a lot of games of the team. “From now on, I'm a big fan of this team. I like the philosophy of Qarabag, and the way they play. The Azerbaijani champion can fight for an exit of the group stage.”
Meanwhile, head coach of Qarabag was not so optimistic.
“I am not happy with the way we defended after the first missed goal,” Gurban Gurbanov said. “But we leave England with a sense that we can be competitive.”
He went on to add that the tem did not deserve defeat. “We knew that Tottenham is a good team. Our players made mistakes. I do not want to talk about the first goal in our gate. Such balls cannot be missed. I hope that in the next match we will achieve a result that we want.”
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Nigar Orujova is AzerNews’s staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar
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