The UEFA Europa League league stage will start next week. Azerbaijan’s Karabakh will take part in the tournament, which is being held for the first time in a new format. Our representative will go to London in the first round. Atlılar will try to win against the strong Tottenham.
“Caspian” newspaper article on the subject.
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Under the new format, the Europa League group stage, like other continental tournaments, has been cancelled. Each team will now play against eight different opponents, four at home and four away. At the end of this, according to the overall tournament table, places 1st to 8th will go directly to the round of 16, and those 9th to 24th will play in the playoffs. The winner of the last 12 places will be eliminated from the tournament and will have no chance to continue in the Conference League.
Tottenham (England), Malmo (Sweden), Ajax (Netherlands), Budyo Glimt (Norway), Lyon (France), Elfsborg (Sweden), FCSB were lucky for Qarabag in the draw. The team’s games will be in the same order. If the Azerbaijani representative receives Malmo, Ajax, Lyon and FCSB at home, he will face other opponents away from home. In general, there is no point in complaining about the draw. Considering their current strength, it is possible to play well with all other opponents, except England, and get a decent result.
Good calendar
Karabakh will start the match with a trip to London and will end its journey in Piraeus. In general, the schedule should be considered suitable for “Karabakh”. One of the most important issues is that in January there were no away games against Budyo Glimt and Elfsborg. Trips to the cold Scandinavian countries in the middle of winter were not the heart of the team. “Riders” will appear in Norway on November 7 and in Sweden on December 12. On the other hand, for Gurban Gurbanov’s team it is an advantage to host strong rivals such as Ajax and Leon. If there is little luck in away games against them, there are enough chances to score points or points in Baku. At the same time, it can be hoped that the team will not return empty-handed from its trips to “Budyo Glimt”, “Elfsborg” and “Olympiakos”.
The possibilities of “Qarabag” are highly appreciated
Experts believe that “Karabakh” will score more than 10 points in matches with these rivals. This may be enough for the team to fall into the playoff zone. Foreign research resources predict that “Karabakh” will be placed in the middle ranks, taking into account the probable results in general.
The new tournament format encourages teams to be more careful. Since the overall tournament table will be drawn up, the importance of goals scored and conceded here will double with each point.
How to classify competitors?
As for the rivals of Qarabag, the strongest among them is Tottenham. “Ajax” and “Leon” can move to the next ranks. However, the representative of Holland is far from its former glory. “Leon” is in the swamp of debt. Due to financial problems, the general atmosphere in the team is quite tense. Meeting these rivals at home also increases the chances of “Qarabag”. The other five teams are after the teeth of the last Azerbaijani champion. Three of them are from Scandinavian countries and the northerners are considered very suitable for our representative. Karabakh, which has so far faced Olympiakos, has not lost to its rival and even managed a brilliant away victory with a score of 3-0. FCSB is a new competitor. However, Romanian club football is not at the highest level and there are many chances to beat this rival in Baku. Karabakh, which already has quite a bit of experience in European cups, managed to beat stronger rivals. Overall, there are many positive elements about the league phase and these increase the confidence that the team will be successful.
How prepared is Karabakh?
Karabakh, which had the most successful season in the European Cups last season, managed to retain the essence of its team. In particular, the best transfers can be considered the retention of players such as Juninho, Benzia, Julio Romao, Landro Andrade in the team. After the departure of Andrey Lunin, Mateusz Kokhalski, who is not weaker than him and has even more potential, was moved to the goal line. In addition, the offensive line has been strengthened by Emmanuel Addai and Aleksei Kashshuk, who won the favor of football fans with his play in “Sabah”. This suggests that the team will be more dangerous in the future. However, certain problems are noticeable in the rear. In particular, the lack of form of Kevin Medina has worried fans. Despite numerous attempts, the transfer of the defender could not be realized and this may cause some difficulties.
In general, Karabakh has already confirmed itself in the European Cups. For this team, a successful result in the league stage should be considered a regular occurrence. The demand of the fans of the “riders” is to go further. In the current situation, it seems quite realistic. We wish “Karabakh” success and good luck on its way to writing a new history in a new format.
