First match for the 2nd qualifying round of the Champions League between Karabakh and Zurich at Azersun Arena in Baku. There will be a replay next week in Switzerland, the away goals rule does not apply.
Qarabak were unbeaten in the second leg of the first round, thrashing Lech Poznan 5-1 and impressively overturned their 1-0 first-leg defeat to seal qualification to the next stage of the competition. The next goal is the qualification against Zurich in order to ensure its participation in the groups of the European competition for the 9th year in a row.
They are the team that has been dominating Azerbaijan's domestic competitions in recent years, last year they won their 7th league title in the last 8 years and rightly start this year's race which starts at the end of August as the absolute favourites.
A premiere for Zurich in this year's European matches and a return to the Champions League qualifiers after many years. Participation won thanks to last year's conquest of the Swiss championship after 13 years making the big surprise after an amazing year.
However, in relation to last year's team, the big loss of the coach who led them to the Breitenreiter title is a thing of the past and Franco Fonda takes over in his place.
On Saturday, in the premiere of this year's championship, it started with a bad defeat by Junk Boys with 4-0, a result that is unfair to them, as in the 60' they were competitive, even losing in the 55' and on a penalty, but after the first goal they conceded in the 62', they collapsed and experienced the crash.
Karabakh was impressive in the second leg against Lech Poznan and absolutely effective and goes into today's match with high morale. Zurich on the other hand in the premiere defense of last year's title landed sharply knowing the crash. I expect an open match with a fast pace and many phases that can reasonably lead to many goals.
Proposal: Karabakh - Zurich Over 2,5 with an odds of 2.32