Reigning Swiss champions Zurich head to the Azersun Arena to take on Azerbaijani powerhouse Qarabag in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League second qualifying round.
Qarabag bounced back from a narrow 1-0 first-leg defeat to Lech Poznan in their opening Champions League qualifying round to beat the reigning Ekstraklasa holders 5-1 in the return fixture and progress into the play-off quarter-finals. However, except for that success, Qarabag’s recent showings have been far from inspiring, as they’ve only won one of their last four matches (D2, L1). Yet, you’d have to go to a 3-0 thumping to Olympique Marseille in the 2021/22 Europa Conference League last-32 first leg to find Qarabag’s last home defeat across all competitions. Gurban Gurbanov’s men have since gone unbeaten in ten consecutive home outings (W7, D3 – 90mins only), prevailing by a 3+ goal margin in all seven wins. In fact, they scored four or more goals in six of those seven triumphs.
On the other hand, Zurich’s new Swiss Super League campaign began with a whimper rather than a bang, as they suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat away to fierce rivals Young Boys on Matchday 1. Zurich’s abysmal start to the new top-flight season is a stark contrast to their high-flying pre-season journey that had seen them win four out of five summer friendlies (L1), three of which via multi-goal margins. Franco Foda’s men have struggled with inconsistent performances on the road since March, with none of their eight competitive away fixtures in that span ending as a draw (W5, L3). Since 62.5% of those results (win/loss) came ‘to nil’ (5/8), getting off the mark first could be vital for Zurich’s bid to upset Qarabag.
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