The first leg of the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa Conference League between local club Neftchi and Dinamo Minsk took place at the Palms Sports Arena in Baku. The match ended in a 4:2 victory for the Belarusian team.
The hosts started the match very actively and were leading by two goals by the 8th minute. Emin Mahmudov opened the scoring in the 2nd minute, converting a pass from Gustavo Clisman following his run. In the 8th minute, after a free-kick cross from Mahmudov, the ball deflected off visiting player Aleksandr Selyava and ended up in the net of the Minsk team.
However, the visitors managed to seize the initiative. In the 36th minute, Dinamo striker Karen Vardanyan reduced the deficit, taking advantage of a mistake by Baku goalkeeper Emil Balayev. The teams went into the break with a 2:1 lead for Neftchi.
During the break, Neftchi head coach Yuriy Vernydub made a change in the goalkeeping line, bringing on Rza Jafarov in place of Balayev. Nevertheless, by the 47th minute, Yevgeniy Malashevich leveled the score at 2:2. In the 57th minute, Baku defender Mustapha Seck made a mistake; Abdul Aziz Toure intercepted the ball and passed to Vardanyan, who scored his second goal and put Dinamo ahead. The final result was set in the 77th minute by Gulzhigit Alykulov, who converted a penalty awarded for a foul by Andrew Gravillon.
Context and return leg
The match was officiated by a Cypriot refereeing team led by Konstantinos Fellas. This game marked Neftchi's return to European competitions after three years: in 2023, the Baku side was eliminated in the third qualifying round of the Europa Conference League by Turkish club Besiktas (1:3, 1:2). In turn, Dinamo Minsk started from the first round of the current tournament, where they defeated Sileks from North Macedonia (0:1, 1:0, 6:5 on penalties).
Previously, Neftchi had not met clubs from Belarus in European competitions, and Dinamo had not faced teams from Azerbaijan. The last encounter between the opponents in the USSR championships took place in September 1988 in Baku and ended in a 2:1 victory for Neftchi.
The return leg will take place on July 30 in the Bulgarian city of Stara Zagora, as UEFA prohibits international matches from being held in Belarus. The winner of this pair will meet the winner of the tie between Zeleznicar (Serbia) and Braga (Portugal) in the third qualifying round.
Source: haqqin.az
