UCL: Garnacho’s equaliser spares Chelsea from Qarabag shock

Chelsea escaped suffering a historic loss to Qarabag through substitute Alejandro Garnacho’s second-half equaliser, avoiding the embarrassment of becoming the first English team to lose to the Azerbaijani side.

Garnacho equalised, having come on as one of three half-time substitutes with his side 2-1 down after goals from Leandro Andrade and Marko Jankovic had put the hosts ahead following Estevao Willian’s early opener for the Blues.

Qarabag had lost all seven of their previous matches against English opposition. The last time they were in the Champions League, they faced Chelsea and lost both matches by an aggregate score of 10-0 and secured just two points from six matches.

However, they gave Enzo Maresca’s side a real scare at the packed 32,000-seater Tofiq Bahramov Stadium, with a squad worth just £22m compared to that of Chelsea – valued at £1.5bn, according to figures by Transfermarkt.

And it was Chelsea who initially took the lead. Estevao, 18, cut inside and shot low into the near post after linking well with his Brazilian team-mates Joao Pedro and Andrey Santos in the 16th minute.

Yet Chelsea struggled defensively having made seven changes to the team that beat Tottenham on Saturday, with Jorrel Hato, 19, partly at fault for both first-half goals.

Qarabag striker Camilo Duran overpowered the Dutch defender when competing for a long ball, hit his shot against the post, but winger Leandro Andrade brilliantly volleyed the rebound into the goal to equalise.

Midfielder Marko Jankovic then sent Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez the wrong way from the penalty spot to give Qarabag an unlikely lead – the penalty given after Hato handled Andrade’s cross.

Maresca had already taken off injured midfielder Romeo Lavia after six minutes, replacing him with Moises Caicedo, and made three further changes at half-time, bringing on Garnacho, Enzo Fernandez and Liam Delap for young trio Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens and Tyrique George.

And it was Garnacho who levelled seven minutes into the half, latching on to Delap’s long ball, capitalising on a mistake from Kevin Medina and then shooting across goalkeeper Mateusz Kochalski and into the corner.

Both sides had further chances, with substitute Nariman Akhundzade shooting from range for the hosts, and Fernandez and Estevao having several attempts to win the game for Chelsea, along with the final substitute, Facundo Buonanotte.

In added time, both sides had chances to win it through substitutes – Danny Bolt and Garnacho both seeing shots from inside the area saved.

The points shared leave the sides level on seven points in the 36-team league phase of the Champions League after four matches.

The sense of disbelief at the full-time whistle that a team from Azerbaijan had drawn with Chelsea was shown by hundreds of fans taking pictures of the scoreboard.

Yet there were also those who felt that if Qarabag were ever going to beat English opposition this could be the time.

There were more supporters than seats inside the 32,000-seater stadium, raising some questions about safety, but not about the passion of those who ensured they could say they were there for history.

Nicknamed “the refugee club”, the club were founded in 1951 and are originally from Agdam in Azerbaijan but, because of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, has long played their home matches elsewhere.

A peace deal was signed in the White House in August to end the decades-long Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but the club had already left their home city in 1993.

The prospect of a return is unlikely any time soon, given that the region needs rebuilding with mines still littered across the area.

This is no ordinary time for this group of players, but this was the right time for them to take on a Premier League powerhouse.

This season, they have beaten Benfica and Copenhagen, while also going a goal up at Athletic Club before losing 3-1 in Spain. They also gave Tottenham a scare last season in London but missed a crucial penalty to go 1-0 up against 10 men, and lost 3-0.

Led by legendary manager Gurban Gurbanov, 17 years into his reign, confidence was at an all-time high for the visit of Chelsea.

The fans felt like a big win was coming, and were treated to probably the biggest win in their history.

In a league phase full of the usual suspects, these minnows from deep in the Caucasus region are upsetting the odds and gatecrashing Europe’s exclusive top tier.

(BBC Sport)

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