The first upset of the UEFA Champions League season is officially in the books, with Azerbaijan’s Qarabag collecting their first-ever win in the competition proper with a dramatic 3-2 result at Benfica on Tuesday.
Benfica, a round of 16 participant in last season’s Champions League and this summer’s Club World Cup, took a 2-0 lead after just 16 minutes thanks to goals from Enzo Barrenechea and Vangelis Pavlidis and seemed poised for a straightforward victory. Qarabag then mounted an impressive comeback, which began with Leandro Andrade’s 30th-minute goal. They were level in the 48th minute thanks to Camilo Duran’s strike from an angle and took the lead for the first time in the 86th minute, with Oleksiy Kashchuk turning before scoring from close range.
It is an impressive feat for Qarabag, who are now the first team from Azerbaijan to win a match in the Champions League after a nine-plus-hour flight from Baku to Lisbon. Tuesday’s win might now be Qarabag’s most notable sporting feat but the Azerbaijani champions add this accomplishment to an impressive list of firsts, all of which signal that they could be a surprisingly competitive team in this season’s edition of the Champions League.
Here’s what to know about the team responsible for Tuesday’s most stunning result.
How did Qarabag beat Benfica?
Qarabag were dominant in possession at the start but Benfica got off to a quick start with four shots and two goals by the 16th minute, while the visitors had zero shots to speak of at that point. The Azerbaijani side, though, scored with their first shot in the 30th minute from Andrade and finished the first half with plenty of momentum. At halftime, Qarabag had outshot Benfica six to five and had 1.15 expected goals to the hosts’ 0.66.
Benfica picked things up in the second half, outshooting Qarabag nine to four but the quality of shots from both teams was lacking after the break. Duran’s 48th-minute equalizer only placed further onus on Benfica to restore their lead but the Portuguese side put just one of their nine second-half shots on target. It paved the way for Kashchuk’s game-winner in the 86th minute, a sign of Qarabag benefiting from Benfica’s wasteful evening at Estadio da Luz in Lisbon.
Who’s on Qarabag’s team?
Qarabag’s squad is primarily made up of talent from Azerbaijan but their squad includes several international players, including each of Tuesday’s goalscorers. Andrade, a Cape Verde international who passed through the academy of Benfica’s rivals Sporting Lisbon, was their top goalscorer last season and currently has three goals in eight games across all competitions to start this campaign.
They are managed by Gurban Gurbanov, Azerbaijan’s former record goalscorer who has been in charge of the team since 2008.
How did Qarabag qualify for the Champions League?
Qarabag entered Champions League qualification in the second round and beat Ireland’s Shelbourne, North Macedonia’s Shkendija and Hungary’s Ferencvaros to reach the Champions League’s league phase.
What is Qarabag’s history in European competition?
Qarabag, the 12-time Azerbaijan Premier League winners who have won all but one league title since the 2013-14 season, became the first team from their country to reach the Champions League proper in the 2017-18 season and exited that season’s competition in the group stage. They have reached the UEFA Europa League competition proper on several occasions dating back to the 2014-15 season and reached the round of 16 in the 2023-24 season before losing 5-4 on aggregate to that season’s finalists Bayer Leverkusen, which marked their deepest run in a European competition. They also participated in the UEFA Conference League twice, reaching the knockout stages on both occasions.
Qarabag’s remaining Champions League schedule
- Matchday 2: Copenhagen (h)
- Matchday 3: Athletic Club (a)
- Matchday 4: Chelsea (h)
- Matchday 5: Napoli (a)
- Matchday 6: Ajax (h)
- Matchday 7: Eintracht Frankfurt (h)
- Matchday 8: Liverpool (a)
