Qarabag will play their final European match of 2024.
Idman.biz reports that this match holds special significance as it marks the 11th consecutive appearance in the league phase for the Aghdam club.
Since 2014, every year’s last match has also been the final group stage game. However, with two games still remaining in the League stage this year, the duel with Elfsborg will be the final match of the year.
Interestingly, Gurban Gurbanov’s team ended last year with a match against the Swedish club. At that time, the Azerbaijani champions defeated Hacken 2-1 in Baku. This time, the game will be held in cold Scandinavia.
Looking back at Qarabag's recent European match history, in the last 10 years, the team has played its final matches in the Champions League in 2017, the Conference League group stage in 2021, and the rest in the Europa League.
Another intriguing aspect is that half of the last 10 final matches were played at home, and the other half away. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the team missed one of their away matches against Villarreal and was awarded a technical defeat.
In general, when Qarabag’s final match of the year has been away, they have never earned points. In the 5 such matches, they lost each time, and now they must overcome this unfortunate syndrome by defeating Elfsborg.
Home finishes have been more memorable for draws. Out of the 3 matches, there was 1 win and 1 loss, with the rest ending in a draw.
In total, over the last 10 years, Qarabag has achieved 1 victory, 3 draws, and 6 losses in their final European match of the year. Last year, the team ended the series of winless finishes, and they will be fighting to continue that success this year.
Qarabag's final European matches of the year:
• 11.12.2014: Qarabag – Inter – 0:0
• 11.12.2015: Anderlecht – Qarabag – 2:1
• 08.12.2016: Qarabag – Fiorentina – 1:2
• 05.12.2017: Roma – Qarabag – 1:0
• 14.12.2018: Arsenal – Qarabag – 1:0
• 12.12.2019: Qarabag – Dudelange – 1:1
• 11.12.2020: Villarreal – Qarabag – +: - (technical defeat)
• 10.12.2021: Bazel – Qarabag – 3:0
• 03.11.2022: Qarabag – Freiburg – 1:1
• 14.12.2023: Qarabag – Hacken – 2:1
The match between Elfsborg and Qarabag will begin at midnight Baku time.
Vugar Kheyrullayev
Idman.biz
