"Barcelona", "Borussia" and "Napoli" will come to Baku: "Sabah"'s victory will give the capital a true football celebration

Sometimes a great football story needs decades to mature. "Sabah" needed less than 9 years. They defeated Israeli "Hapoel" and advanced to the main stage of the UEFA Champions League, writes the newspaper "Kaspi."

On the evening of August 25, at the Tofik Bakhramov Republican Stadium, the young Baku club completed a journey that until recently seemed almost impossible: from Azerbaijan's First Division to a place among the 36 participants of the Champions League league phase. And they did it in such a way that the outcome of the two-legged confrontation with the champions of Azerbaijan and Israel will long remain part of the country's football memory.

There was nowhere to retreat

Before the second leg against "Hapoel" from Beer-Sheva, the situation for Valdas Dambrauskas's team was difficult. The first playoff match took place on August 19 in Bucharest, at the "Giulești" stadium, where the Israeli club hosted their opponent on neutral ground. "Sabah" started brilliantly: already in the 6th minute, Veljko Simić put the visitors ahead. However, Javon East equalized in the 43rd minute, and in the 79th minute, Igor Zlatanović gave "Hapoel" the victory — 2:1.

In Baku, there was nowhere to retreat. But the start of the return leg seemed to deliberately test the hosts' resilience. In the 10th minute, Zlatanović scored again, and on aggregate the advantage of "Hapoel" grew to two goals. In the 37th minute, Christian Nwachukwu brought "Sabah" back into the game, but after halftime, Guy Mizrahi put the visitors ahead again — 2:1 in the match and 4:2 on aggregate.

At that moment, the Champions League seemed far away. But it was precisely then that "Sabah" showed the quality without which great European nights are not born. In the 74th minute, Umarali Rakhmonaliev equalized with a powerful strike — 2:2. Time was almost up, "Hapoel" was just moments away from a historic qualification, when in the fourth minute of added time, Tellur Mutallimov sent the ball into the net after a corner kick — 3:2. On aggregate — 4:4.

Extra time became "Sabah's" territory. In the 100th minute, Djibril Diop left the visitors with ten men, and a minute later, Orphe Mbina