Incredible outcome: Qarabag missed two goals from Bayer in stoppage time and was knocked out of the Europa League

Shik's double and Lunev's saves

“Qarabag” with Andrey Lunev in the lineup has become one of the main discoveries of the current Europa League season.

He started his performance from the third qualifying round and reached the 1/8 finals, where he almost knocked out Bayer, which was confidently leading in the Bundesliga table.

Unfortunately, the residents of Agdam can only blame themselves for the fact that they failed to create another miracle.

Even in the first match they led with a score of 2:0, but allowed the opponent to escape in the end.

A week later, the scenario incredibly repeated itself, and even the main characters turned out to be the same.

Although initially it seemed that Leverkusen would not leave him a chance at home.

In the opening they really looked powerful, actively pressing and creating chances.

During a difficult period, Lunev helped out his partners several times, making five saves in total.

Although in one episode he made a mistake when he gave the ball to Borja Iglesias, but instead of hitting the empty ones, he made a discount on Amin Adli, who was offside.

Gradually, the guests came to their senses and began to regularly carry out quick counterattacks.

And in the second half, they completely gave the favorite a cold shower, scoring twice in eight minutes.

In both cases, Gurban Gurbanov's charges organized attacks on the right flank.

First, Leandro Andrade's cross was completed by Abdellah Zubir, and then Juninho doubled the lead, taking advantage of Marko Vesovic's cross.

At the same time, in the interval between the two goals, Qarabag remained in the minority.

Alvin Jafarguliyev knocked down Jeremy Frimpong on the way to the penalty area and received a yellow card.

But after studying the replay, the referee decided: there was a foul of last resort.

In addition, Xabi Alonso made some very successful substitutions.

Looking ahead, Patrick Schick ended up scoring a double, and Alejandro Grimaldo provided two assists.

In addition, we managed to quickly win back one goal through the efforts of Frimpong.

Having conceded, the Azerbaijani team pressed against their goal.

As a result, the hosts completely turned the tide of the confrontation in stoppage time, causing an avalanche.

The tall, powerful Schick first pushed through the guard after a cross from the left and fired accurately.

Lunev touched the ball, but did not block its path into the net.

And in the 98th minute, literally in the last attack, the Czech took advantage of a throw to the far post.

Thus, “Qarabag” stopped one step away from a historic place in the quarterfinals of the League of Legends.

And Bayer not only solved the problem, but also extended its unbeaten streak in all competitions to 37 matches.

The last time he was defeated was back in May 2023.

Miranchuk's assist

Domestic fans will not be left without Russians in the League of Legends, since Atalanta, with the help of Alexei Miranchuk, barely beat Sporting after an away draw a week earlier.

The midfielder himself again got into the starting lineup and became one of the best on the field.

He took part in both of his team's goals and completed the most passes for teammates (five).

In the beginning, the whole game went through him and Emil Holm.

Before the referee had time to blow the starting whistle, the winger brought Gianluca Scamacca one on one with the goalkeeper with a subtle pass, but he failed to convert the chance.

Ten minutes later, the same forward hit the crossbar after Miranchuk's cross.

As a result, instead of taking the lead, the Bergamasques conceded after half an hour.

The guests easily passed the opposing defense in several passes, and Pedro Gonçalves shot between the legs of Juan Musso.

But in the second half, the hosts turned the tide of an unsuccessful match thanks to Miranchuk.

Already in the 36th second, Ademola Lookman equalized the score.

Not without the help of Alexei.

He did not reach the ball with his head, trying to close the pass from the right flank, but confused the defenders and the goalkeeper.

And then the projectile bounced towards the Nigerian at the far post.

Some portals even recorded an assist for the Russian.

But soon he was included in the protocol without any questions.

The midfielder made a soft, thin pass into the penalty area to Scamacca, who fired just in touch.

Thus, the Russian assisted his partner in the third LE match in a row.

It was only after he was replaced that Sporting created a couple of chances, but Musso rose to the occasion.

Salah's assist hat-trick and Kudus' masterpiece

But in the Liverpool-Sparta pair the fight didn’t work out at all.

In the first game, the Merseysiders scored five goals, and in the second, with the support of fans, they improved the result.

Even the rotation started by Jurgen Klopp didn't hurt.

Young Keevin Kelleher, Conor Bradley, Bobby Clarke, Harvey Elliott and others got their chance.

Clark performed best of all, who not only assisted Mohamed Salah, but also scored his debut goal for the Reds.

At the start, they simply swept away the visitors, scoring four times in 14 minutes.

This is the best result for European competition since 1971.

Then Chelsea scored as many “Jeunesse Otsharage” in the Cup Winners' Cup in 13. Only after that the hosts calmed down a little and even allowed Veljko Birmancevic to reduce the gap.

But immediately after the break, Liverpool forced Peter Vindahl-Jensen to take the ball out of the net twice more.

And if not for the Dane, the Prague residents could have missed ten.

And the best among the opponents was Salah, who returned to duty.

He scored only once, but scored an assist hat-trick.

Along the way, the Egyptian turned out to be the first football player in the history of the club to score 20 or more goals in all competitions in seven seasons in a row.

Another English team, West Ham, also made fun of their opponent.

In the first match, he lost to Freiburg away from home with a minimal difference in the score, but in the second he left him no chance.

Already in the ninth minute, Lucas Paqueta restored the status quo after delivering a corner.

Jarrod Bowen and Aaron Cresswell then scored.

And in the end, Mohammed Kudus, who scored a double, reminded himself of himself.

First, he made a stunning slalom pass from his own half of the field to someone else's penalty area, beating a number of opponents along the way, and accurately shot close, and then delivered a biting blow from afar.

This allowed the Ghanaian to move up to second place in the top scorers race with seven goals, which he shares with Romelu Lukaku.

At the same time, the Londoners won the biggest victory in the history of the club in the League of Legends.

Golesh sent off and Azmun's goal disallowed

But the country's third representative in the second most important European Cup finished the fight.

Brighton conceded four unanswered goals from Roma and effectively lost their chance of reaching the quarter-finals.

However, at home, Roberto de Zerbi's team managed to at least gain the upper hand.

And the victory was brought to them by Danny Welbeck's stunning curling shot from the penalty line into the far top corner.

Another masterpiece was almost created by the former striker of Zenit, Rostov and Rubin Serdar Azmun.

Taking advantage of his partner's throw, he threw Bart Verbruggen over himself in the fall.

However, the line judge immediately raised his flag, signaling offside.

Milan also made it to the next stage.

Surprisingly, the second confrontation with Slavia did not go without an early removal from the opponents.

Then El-Hadji Malik Diouf was sent off the field, and now Tomas Goles was sent off in the 20th minute.

The Czech accidentally stepped on Davide Calabria's ankle.

At first the referee didn’t even show the yellow card, but after watching the replay, he ejected the offender from the field.

In the majority, the Rossoneri calmly scored three goals before the break, and could have scored more.

Rafael Leau's shot into the top corner during first-half stoppage time was especially beautiful.

Only after this did the guests relax a little and even allow the Prague residents to escape the destruction. 

Olympiacos' comeback and Villarreal's character

Meanwhile, a stunning comeback almost took place in Spain.

After the first meeting between Villarreal and Marseille, the French team scored four unanswered goals.

But Marcelino Garcia Toral's team almost performed a miracle and did not win back this handicap.

They did everything for this: they owned the ball 59% of the time and made 24 shots versus seven from their opponents.

It all started with Etienne Capou's goal after half an hour.

But the real interest was revived by Alexander Sørloth's accurate strike.

Moreover, the referee first recorded offside and only after a careful study of the episode by the entire team pointed to the center.

And when Yerson Mosquera scored on a set piece in the 85th minute, it became scary for Olympic, as they stopped one step away from extra time.

The hosts went forward in full force and created several dangerous moments.

And the Ceramica - El Madrigal stadium was literally shaking.

But the opponent managed to carry out a devastating counterattack, and Jonathan Kloss reassured the local fans.

But in the Conference League, Olympiacos made an amazing comeback, having lost to Maccabi Tel Aviv (1:4) in Greece a week ago and had almost no chance of salvation.

But in Serbia, where the Israeli team was nominally playing a home match, the Piraeus team managed to finish regulation time with a similar score.

And Ayoub El-Kaabi scored a double.

In the end, everything was decided in extra time, when the nominal guests finally finished off the opponent thanks to the shots of Stevan Jovetic and Youssef El-Arabi - 6:1.

The defeat of Aston Villa and the difficulties of Fiorentina

In the Conference League, the pair that attracted the most attention was Aston Villa and Ajax.

It seemed that the Amsterdamers were able to impose a fight on their competitor, although they were going through a difficult period.

And the first meeting only confirmed this.

The teams played on equal terms and created approximately the same number of chances.

But with the support of their fans, the Birmingham team left no chance for the guests.

In the 25th minute, the scoring was opened by Ollie Watkins, who was already injured and soon had to leave the field.

And after the hour, Leon Bailey rocked the defender and neatly shot into the far corner.

To top all the troubles, Sievert Mannsverk received a second mustard plaster.

Left in the minority, the Dutch team finally fell apart and allowed John Duran and Moussa Diaby to distinguish themselves.

Meanwhile, the only Italian representative in the tournament, Fiorentina, beat Maccabi Haifa with some difficulty.

And the main hero of the squad, as well as the away match, was Antonin Barak.

Then he came on as a substitute at the end and brought victory with a strike in the 95th minute, and now he got into the start and scored the only goal - he headed in a cross from the flank.

To the credit of the Israeli team, they did not stop resisting and in the end managed to revive the intrigue.

Anan Halaili equalized shortly before the final whistle.

The guests then even staged a kind of assault on Pietro Terracciano’s property, but they were unable to upset him any further.