Qarabag boss fumes ‘these things shouldn’t happen’ as he reveals his team were stuck in traffic for two-and-a-half HOURS before their 3-0 defeat by Tottenham in the Europa League
- The Qarabag manager was unhappy after his side’s Europa League defeat
- Tottenham with 10 men secured a dominant 3-0 home win over Azerbaijan
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Qarabag manager Gurban Gurbanov was furious at the pre-match chaos before his side’s Europa League opener against Tottenham was postponed by 30 minutes.
The visitors from Azerbaijan only arrived 15 minutes before the original 8pm kick-off as traffic caused travel nightmares across north London affecting those traveling to the match.
A greatly reduced warm-up time did not give Qarabag the best preparation for what was one of the biggest games in the club’s history, which was full of flashpoints for 90 minutes.
Spurs got off to a torrid start as centre-back Radu Dragusin was sent off after just seven minutes of action, leaving the home side down to ten men and giving Qarabag a huge opportunity to pull off an upset.
However, Ange Postecoglou’s side rallied and scored a breakaway opener as Brennan Johnson scored his third goal in as many games and a returning Pape Sarr added another.
Qarabag manager Gurban Gurbanov was furious at the pre-match chaos ahead of his side’s Europa League defeat to Spurs
Tottenham recorded a dominant 3-0 win over Qarabag in their first Europa League match
Qarabag’s players missed several scoring opportunities against Tottenham on Thursday
Qarabag then squandered a huge opportunity as Toral Bayramov smashed his penalty against the crossbar and Brazilian striker Juninho also rattled the woodwork as Spurs began to rock.
Dominic Solanke rounded off the clean sheet with a tap-in and Qarabag boss Gurbanov credited Tottenham for better football, but insisted such travel delays ‘should not happen’.
Dominic Solanke scored Tottenham’s third goal against Qarabag in the European victory
‘It [travel chaos] had a big impact on our footballers, but it doesn’t detract from our opponent. It’s a good team and we don’t discount that.
“As soon as we arrived, we were told to start in forty minutes, but we weren’t as ready or prepared as we should have been. These things should not happen,” he added.
The 52-year-old will hope his side can make a marked improvement in their next European outing against Malmö.
Meanwhile, Spurs look to follow up their winning streak when they travel to play Man United on Sunday.