Gabala 1:2 Saint-Etienne (France)
UEFA Europa League, Group C, Fourth Tour
Date: Thursday, November 3, 2016
Kick-off: 10:00 P.M. AZT
Venue: Bakcell Arena, Baku
Referee: Carlos Del Cerro (Spain)
Assistant Referees: Juan Yuste (Spain), Roberto Alonso (Spain)
Additional assistant referees: Juan Martinez Munuera (Spain), Inaki Vicandi Garrido (Spain)
Fourth official: Abraham Alvarez Canton (Spain)
Referee observer: Muharrem Zihni Aksoy (Turkey)
UEFA delegate: Aristeidis Stavropoulos (Greece)
Goals: Ruslan Gurbanov, 39” // Usama Tannan, 45+1, Robert Beric, 53”
Bookings: Ruslan Gurbanov, 33”, Mahammad Mirzabayov, 90+3” // Florentin Pogba, 28
Stoppage time: First Half: 1 min.; Second Half: 3 min.
Gabala lost to Saint-Etienne 1:2 in the second round opener of the UEFA Europa League’s Group C. Roman Grigorchuk’s red-black side came on the pitch with kids supporting performance for Down Syndrome children.
The visitors started faster and took early lead over the field. Kevin Monnet Paquet’s goal was cancelled by our keeper Dmytro Bezotosniy four minutes before giving his teammates another great save denying Usama Tanna’s goalbound shot. After the early fifteen minutes of the sustained pressure, Gabala came from behind to balance the game setting up some troubles in the other end. At times, Ricardinho’s superb pass to the box failed to be touched by Sergei Zenjov.
Going more into the half period, Gabala could even gain the domination in the pitch that was evident with Zennjov trying to come one on one with the keeper, but he was fouled by Florentin Pogba picked up a yellow card. Shortly later, the Estonian Gabala player went too close to finishing with a header Filip Ozobic’s superior pass, but saw his shot off the target.
Then Eyyubov’s 36-meter free kick was denied by the keeper but the returned ball was shot by many efforts and finished in the opener by Gabala’s Ruslan Gurbanov. The goal was registered as the team’s thirtieth in their all Eurocup games, also keeping up their scoring run of all the home matches during the season. But the home side were unable to hold their lead as the visitors leveled with Usama Tanna’s free kick in the stoppage time. And before the goal, the referee forced Gabala head coach Grigorchuk off the technical area of the field.
After the restart, Saint-Etienne were quicker again and led to their second goal by Robert Beric with his 18-meter drive– 1:2. The goal prompted Gabala to step up their inroads into the opponent defense. But the French side backed on their defensive line and then launched some more quick counter attacks. And Gabala had have some many efforts to level again, but the visitors could stay clear in the minutes left.
The result left Gabala loosing their chance to the next round of 32 as another game of the group have not ended in a draw while Anderlecht (Belgium) won 6:1 over Mainz 05 (Germany) extending their points up to eight.
Gabala line-up:
22. Dmytro Bezotosniy
3. Vojislav Stankovic
6. Rasad Sadigov (C)
(7. Nika Kvekveskiri, 84)
9. Sergei Zenjov
(11. Asif Mammadov, 61”)
10. Ruslan Gurbanov
15. Vitaliy Vernidub
17. Mahammad Mirzabayov
19. Filip Ozobic
20. Ricardinho
27. Theo Weeks
32. Rasad Eyubov
(30. Petar Franyic, 65”)
BENCH
33. David Pietrzkevic
4. Elvin Jamalov
13. Murad Musayev
34. Urfan Abbasov
COACH: Roman Grigorcuk
Saint-Etienne line-up:
16. Stephane Ruffie
10. Oussama Tannane
(9. Nolan Roux, 84”)
11. Henri Seve
(5. Vincent Pajot, 74”)
12. Cheikh M'Bengue
14. Jordan Veretout
17. Ole Kristian Selnaes
19. Florentin Pogba
22. Kévin Monnet-Paquet
24. Loic Perrin (C)
25. Kevin Malcuit
27. Robert Beric
(23. Alexsandr Soderlund, 62”)
BENCH:
30. Jessi Mulin
2. Kévin Théophile-Catherine
4. Leo Lacroix
35. Arnaud Nordin
COACH: Kristof Galtye
