Benfica (Portugal) – Qarabağ – 2:3
Enzo Barrenechea, 6; Vangelis Pavlidis, 16 – Leandro Andrade, 30; Camilo Durán, 48; Aleksey Kashchuk, 86
Qarabağ played its first match in the group stage of the Champions League. Our team was the guest of Portugal’s Benfica.
Our head coach, Gurban Gurbanov, fielded the following starting 11 in the match held in Lisbon: 99. Mateusz Kochalski, 13. Bahlul Mustafazade, 81. Kevin Medina, 2. Mateus Silva, 44. Elvin Jafarguliyev, 8. Marko Jankovic, 35. Pedro Bicalho, 20. Kady Borges, 15. Leandro Andrade, 10. Abdullah Zubir (c), 17. Camilo Durán.
The hosts started the game faster and scored twice within the first 20 minutes. However, our team recovered and began organizing consecutive attacks. As a result, in the 30th minute, Leandro Andrade reduced the deficit with a powerful close-range shot. Encouraged by this goal, our players boldly displayed superior play against a strong opponent.
Before halftime, our team could not only have equalized but even taken the lead. Several scoring opportunities were created, but in some instances, the opponent’s goalkeeper prevented a goal, and in others, the final shot was inaccurate.
Despite playing away, our team demonstrated more attractive football in the second half. Thanks to an outstanding performance, our players managed to make a comeback. Immediately after the break, Camilo Durán received a perfect pass from Marko Jankovic and struck an unstoppable shot into the net.
In the final minutes of the match, Aleksey Kashchuk’s beautiful goal secured a magnificent victory for our team in a challenging Lisbon trip. With this win, Qarabağ achieved its first victory in the Champions League group stage, making history.
It is worth noting that Qarabağ will play its next match in the tournament on October 1 against the Danish club Copenhagen. The match, to be held at the Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium, will kick off at 20:45.
