Can Qarabağ FK overcome eight rivals in Champions League? Forecast by Caliber.Az

Agdam’s Qarabağ football club, which was placed in Pot 4 before the draw, has found out about its opponents for the main stage of the Champions League. The Azerbaijani club faces a challenging schedule, with home matches against Chelsea, Eintracht Frankfurt, Ajax, and Copenhagen, and away games against Liverpool, Benfica, Napoli, and Atletico Madrid.

Let’s add that the main stage kicks off on September 16. The final match schedule will be announced on August 30. And now, to the main news…

Azerbaijani fans may have gotten slightly less lucky than their Kazakh counterparts (as “Kairat” will host Real Madrid and play away against Inter Milan), but they will once again have the chance to see European football giants live — including Chelsea and Ajax, whom Qarabağ has faced before, as well as witness the legendary Liverpool in action.

So, what are Gurban Gurbanov’s team’s chances in these eight matches? Can Qarabağ — no stranger to rewriting the history of Azerbaijani football — do it once again by advancing to the next stage of the Champions League?

Immediately after the draw, some so-called “experts” on social media began claiming that Qarabağ isn’t ready to compete in the Champions League — saying that the best this current squad can hope for is the European League, and so on.

But let’s not forget, ladies and gentlemen, it was this very club that qualified for the Champions League — a team without a prolific striker, without any explosive transfers — and yet Qarabağ didn’t just win matches, they sometimes crushed their opponents, and did so on their home turf.

Of course, saying that Gurban Gurbanov’s players could do the same against Liverpool would be overly optimistic — but holding their own against Benfica in Lisbon is well within our team’s capabilities.

At their home stadium, Qarabağ could even beat, say, Copenhagen — something they have already done not long ago (in August 2017). It was thanks to that victory that the club reached the Champions League group stage for the first time. So why not do it again? Especially considering that the 2017 Qarabağ team was clearly not stronger than the current one. And Copenhagen isn’t Chelsea, against whom chances are slim even on home turf. As for Eintracht, Qarabağ can put up a fight, though it will be extremely tough. And facing Napoli away will be almost impossible.

Though… Qarabağ has made the impossible possible so many times that I wouldn’t be surprised if Azerbaijan’s football flagship pulls off another European sensation. Instead of the 3–4 points they realistically might earn in these matches, Gurbanov and his team could aim even higher. Don’t you agree, gentlemen?

By Vugar Vugarli, for Caliber.Az