Sabah lost to Manchester United but showed its character A first step in the Champions League

Sabah’s debut match in the league phase of the Champions League ended in a 4–0 defeat to Manchester United. But it would be hard to call the performance a failure. The Baku club showed character, created plenty of chances and gave reasons for optimism ahead of its remaining matches in the tournament.

The match at the legendary Old Trafford against one of Europe’s most iconic clubs was a historic occasion for Sabah. The outcome was largely decided in the first half, when, after 27 minutes of evenly matched play, Manchester United scored three goals in the remaining 18 minutes. Nevertheless, simply taking to the pitch at one of the world’s most famous football stadiums was already an important milestone in the history of Azerbaijani football.

It is also worth remembering that this was the first time the Sabah players had competed in the league phase of the Champions League. Moreover, the team set a unique record simply by appearing at Old Trafford: its squad featured players from 11 countries.

This truly international team managed to keep a clean sheet for 27 minutes against a three-time Champions League winner. At the same time, Manchester United supporters were undoubtedly expecting their team to score an early goal within the opening 15 minutes.

Sabah looked confident and refused to abandon its style of play. The only issue highlighted by head coach Valdas Dambrauskas after the match was that his players showed Manchester United too much respect. For many of them, Manchester United had previously existed mainly on television screens — and now they found themselves facing the club on the same pitch.

In the end, virtually all of Manchester United’s stars got on the scoresheet: Olympic champion Matheus Cunha, captain Bruno Fernandes, World Cup winner Lisandro Martínez and the outstanding Benjamin Šeško. After conceding the fourth goal, Sabah noticeably stepped up and became much more aggressive going forward, repeatedly threatening the goal of €35 million-rated goalkeeper Senne Lammens. The Baku side registered 11 shots on goal. Although none were on target, the statistic itself reflects the team’s determination to keep playing football even when facing a heavy deficit.

In the end, Sabah left a far more positive impression at Old Trafford than the 4–0 scoreline might suggest. It was the team’s first experience at such a high level, and it came against one of Europe’s most famous clubs. That experience will undoubtedly provide an important foundation for the matches to come.

Now Sabah will have the opportunity to perform in front of its home supporters. On October 13, the Baku club will face Slavia Prague in Baku. We can only hope that this will be the match in which Sabah scores its first goals in the league phase of the Champions League and, of course, picks up its first points. Better still, all three.

By Vugar Vugarli, exclusively for Caliber.Az