Matchday in focus: Qarabağ under the microscope | OneFootball

The Azerbaijani club is one of the best in the country and has won the domestic championship numerous times, while also making a significant impression on the European stage.

Tactics

Qarabağ FK have stuck resolutely to a 4-2-3-1 formation in the current Champions League campaign. Head coach Gurban Gurbanov is reluctant to deviate from his preferred starting line-up, and has only made a total of four changes to his first XI across the six continental games so far. 

Mateusz Kochalski is the No.1 in goal, playing behind a well-drilled backline comprising Elvin Cafarquliyev on the left, Kevin Medina and Bahlul Mustafazada at centre-back, and Matheus Silva at right-back. Marko Jankovic and Pedro Bicalho offer added cover in the defensive midfield roles. 

Further forward, Emmanuel Addai operates wide on the left, captain Abdellah Zoubir centrally, with Leandro Andrade on the right flank. The latter has scored three times from just five shots in the Champions League this season; Atlético de Madrid’s Marcos Llorente is the only player with a better chance conversion in the competition this term (75 percent), among all players with three or more goals. Up front, summer signing Camilo Durán is preferred to Nariman Akhundzada. 

Form 

Qarabağ are 22nd in the league phase table heading into Matchday 7 with seven points, having won two, drawn one and lost three so far. They have scored ten goals and conceded 13, giving them goals-per-game averages of 1.67 in attack and 2.17 in defence. 

Furthermore, Gurbanov’s side average 46.34 percent possession per game, with a passing accuracy of 81.67 percent. A striking trend from Qarabağ’s first six games is that they have dropped eight points from winning positions – more than any other club. They have dropped at least two points this way in three of their four most recent outings in the competition. 

The Atlılar have been far more consistent in the domestic Premyer Liqası, though. With 36 points from 16 top-flight games, as well as 32 goals scored and just ten against, Qarabağ are currently second in Azerbaijan’s top flight. Defeat at league leaders Sabah FK two matchdays ago was just their second loss of the season. 

Facts and figures

Qarabağ have only kept one clean sheet in their last 22 assignments in Europe, doing so in a 2-0 home win over Copenhagen on Matchday 2 of the current Champions League campaign. 

The Eagles have not won away in the Champions League since beating Sporting Clube de Portugal 2-1 in November 2022. Eintracht are winless in their last four away games in the competition. 

Nathaniel Brown has won 37 of his 47 contested duels in the Champions League this season. That success rate of 78.7 percent is higher than any other player who has contested at least 30 challenges in the competition this term.