Qarabağ vs Ajax: Is that the end of the story? Afterword on the match

Well, dear readers, you’ve seen it all. We’ve seen it all, and so has Gurban Gurbanov. He saw four goals conceded to Mateusz Kochalski, while his teammates scored only two. And the fourth goal—well, that one was downright humiliating. He saw Nariman Akhundzade completely toothless for half an hour after being substituted in for Leandro Andrade. He saw the utter helplessness of his club’s defensive lines in the second half. And what happened? The head coach stayed true to form, declaring after the game that everyone did well and he was satisfied with all. As one Russian footballer once said, “Your expectations are your problems.”

Yes, perhaps we expected too much from Qarabağ, instead of simply appreciating that the team, facing almost no domestic competition, managed to reach the group stage of the Champions League. But so what? Was Qarabağ supposed to reach the group stage just to lose to everyone? Is it a bad thing when the country’s top club plays on equal terms with one of the world’s best right before your eyes? Is it a bad thing when leading bookmakers list your team as the favourite against the legendary Ajax?

It becomes a problem only when, after that, your team concedes four goals and hands the Dutch club not just their first win, but also their first points in the Champions League group stage! Meanwhile, Qarabağ is left with the same number of points it had after four rounds, which it had finished with seven points.

So what happened? What broke in the “Gurbanov machine”?

Everything seemed to point to a Qarabağ victory. Even the bookmakers. Even, damn it, Ajax itself, after five consecutive defeats, wasn’t sure it wouldn’t suffer a sixth in Baku! Even the match day itself seemed to demand a win—the day of remembrance for Anatoly Banishevskiy! After all, the team that had a poor start in the Champions League group stage, Napoli, defeated our team on the day commemorating Maradona—the greatest player to ever wear a Napoli jersey!

So Qarabağ simply had to win on the day remembering the greatest footballer in the history of Azerbaijani football. The spirit of Banishevskiy would have rejoiced at this victory just as much as Maradona’s spirit celebrated Napoli’s win over Qarabağ.

But alas, Qarabağ looked so weak on the field, especially in the last fifteen minutes of the match, that even the heavens seemed to turn away, pouring down an endless torrent of rain in frustration that evening. And not just the heavens—honestly, I felt like crying myself at what I saw! The much-hyped Kochalski conceded four of eight shots on target. Gurbanov’s substitutions, once again, were meaningless—whether it was Nariman Akhundzade, mentioned above, or Oleksiy Kashchuk, who inexplicably replaced Camilo Duran, despite Duran delivering an excellent first half and an equally strong start to the second. Both seemed utterly confused about why they had even been sent onto the pitch.

As a result, Qarabağ ended the calendar year so ingloriously on the international stage—a stage that had only just begun to take Gurbanov’s squad seriously. And they went ahead and shattered all the impressions of the “Qarabağ fairy tale,” turning it into harsh Azerbaijani realities. Although, wait—Qarabağ still has two games in January. And while nothing likely awaits Gurbanov’s squad in Liverpool, even with Salah possibly absent, the clash with Eintracht in Baku should be a real battle. I sincerely hope that in this match, Gurbanov will not have to rely solely on “masters” like Akhundzade.

So, we are left eagerly awaiting the winter transfer window to see how realistic it is for Qarabağ to remain among the clubs continuing the fight in the Champions League. Isn’t that right, gentlemen?

By Vugar Vugarli, exclusively for Caliber.Az