The 13th tour of the Topaz Premier League is getting underway with Gabala”s away match against Sumgayit. Red-black footballer Samir Zargarov talks to gabalafc.az about the fixture:
“We are well prepared to this game and will play in our best to take the victory and break the deadlock of the last 4 winless matches. Sumgayit is a strong side with a long experience in the domestic topflight championship. But we will push hard to earning the next 3 points tonight. We gave a good start to the season and now can still go through. The deadlock was exactly that we couldn”t make a goal although setting up many occasions. We much worked to fix the problem and now will try to make good finishes. Gabala must not give up points any more.
And I can”t estimate my own performance, so it is up to senior specialists.
The midfielder shared his thoughts also on the upcoming last 2 UEFA EL matches of the C group. He says the Roman Grigorchuk”s squad targets to win both games:
“Our whole chance does not depend only on us as we need Borussia Dortmund to beat Krasnodar so we can go through even after taking both games left".
The last EL match against Borussia reached Zargarov to his 100th experience for Gabala. He is the 4th red-black player striking the title after Dodo, Victor Mendy and Urfan Abbasov.
“Not all footballers can reach to his 100th game in a club as it is much difficult and now I am really happy hitting this. The time and fortune will tell which number I can move it up to. I will play as much long as I can make a history for the club.
And the most mentionable match for me, also for the club, is the match that we won over Panathinaikos (Greece) to hit the EL group stage. And I still haven”t forget the goal I scored against Baku in the round of 8 during the 2007/08 domestic cup season. As that game and the return match ended in 1:1, Gabala came out as the better side after the penalty shootout developing to the semifinal”.
Joining Gabala again this summer, Zargarov remembers his first deal with Gabala for the 2006-2009 season when the club took the debut in the domestic premier league. He adds:
“I remember that year very well when head coach Faig Jabbarov invited me to the first team from FC Adliyya. I spent my time with the club for 3 years up to moving to Standard. Then I was young like the club itself and we had good performances a formatting side. And we developed into domestic cup semifinal round 2 times in that 3 years, but failed to take tally to the UEFA EL. But today Gabala are having much more potential to play in the continental championship as it is well evident”.
During that period, I played in a position appointed by the head coach. So I played both in forward and back line, as well as in the midfield. But after leaving Gabala, I fortified my position absolutely in the wing midfield”.
Samir is convinced Gabala will show better performance to extend the number of the fans, saying:
“I thank to our fans coming to matches and supporting us. But I wish to see much more fans at the pitch as we are encouraged when they seem many on the sits zone. We play for the fans with our best to bring them more to the pitch”.
