“We played a composed game until the end”

Following the Qarabağ – Araz-Nakhchivan match (3:0) held within the second leg of the Azerbaijan Cup semi-finals, a press conference was held with our team’s head coach, Gurban Gurbanov. The experienced specialist shared his thoughts on the match:

“First of all, I congratulate my players. Yes, there was some tension and fatigue. The opponent defended very intelligently and posed threats with dangerous counterattacks. In the first half, they even had a few goal-scoring opportunities. They applied very good pressure on our off-the-ball players. As a result, we lost possession many times in the first half. Despite that, our team played composedly until the end and waited for the opponent to make a mistake. We managed to take advantage of that in the second half as well. I would also like to thank our fans for their support.”

The head coach also stated that the final would be fiercely contested: “Regardless of who the opponent is, we will face a team burning with desire to win the final. Because for both Neftchi and Sabah, winning the cup is likely the only route to qualifying for European competitions. That’s why a very tough final awaits us. We still have time to prepare for the decisive match. Naturally, if we’ve made it this far with hard work, we will try to win the cup. I want my players to add more trophies to their tally.”