Qarabağ v Dnipro background
Friday, October 24, 2014
Article summary
Qarabağ FK made national history with a 1-0 win against FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk on matchday three and will hope for more success in the sides' Group F rematch.
Article top media content
Article body
Having achieved a notable national first against FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk on matchday three, Qarabağ FK will look to complete a Group F double against the Ukrainian side.
Form guide
• Qarabağ's 1-0 win at Dnipro was the first victory – home or away – by any Azerbaijani side in the group stage of a major UEFA club competition. Qarabağ are only the second Azeri club to feature in this group stage; Neftçi PFK recorded three draws and three defeats in their pioneering 2012/13 group stage campaign.
• The only previous UEFA club competition tie between Azerbaijani and Ukrainian sides ended in a 5-0 aggregate win for FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih against FK Shamkir in the 1999/2000 UEFA Cup qualifying round.
• Qarabağ are unbeaten in four European home matches this season, posting two wins followed by two 0-0 draws.
• Dnipro have gone four games without a European goal since a 2-1 victory against HNK Hajduk Split in the first leg of this season's UEFA Europa League play-offs. Those are the only goals they have scored in seven European matches this term (having lost 2-0 on aggregate to FC København in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round).
Trivia and links
• Dnipro midfielder Serhiy Kravchenko spent the 2005/06 season at Qarabağ; his side finished fifth in the table and won the Azerbaijani Cup, though he did not play in the final.
• Dnipro's Georgian midfielder Jaba Kankava (2010-11) and Croatian international Mladen Bartulović (2009-10) played alongside Qarabağ's Albanian international Ansi Agolli in Ukraine with Kryvbas.
• Qarabağ's Brazilian midfielder Danilo Dias turns 29 on the day of the Dnipro game.
The coaches
• Qarabağ coach Gurban Gurbanov is Azerbaijan's all-time top scorer at international level with 14 goals. He played in Russia but enjoyed perhaps his most celebrated years with Neftçi, where he later started out as a coach. In charge at Qarabağ since 2008, he led the club to their second title – after a 21-year wait – last season.
• Dnipro coach since 2014, Myron Markevych started out as a midfielder with hometown club FC Karpaty Lviv, and while his playing career was not a huge success, he served Karpaty in four spells as a coach before a lengthy stint at FC Metalist Kharkiv earned him a reputation for attacking football. He briefly coached Ukraine in 2010.
