Thanks ref… or not! Qarabag player tries to high-five English referee Anthony Taylor after he thought VAR was rescinding his yellow card – only for him to pull out a red card, sending him off moments later!

A Qarabag player was left red-faced on Thursday evening after being sent off the field in a bizarre but double threat and left hanging within seconds of giving referee Anthony Taylor a high five.

The Azerbaijani giants took on Bayer Leverkusen, Europe’s unbeaten surprise package of the season, hoping to secure a historic place in the Europa League quarter-finals.

Qarabag had taken a surprise lead on the road in Leverkusen and looked set to challenge the German side’s proud, invincible bid for 2023-2024, only for Elvin Cafarguliyev to hilariously leave his side down to a man.

Cafarguliyev was booked for a last-man challenge on Jeremy Frimpong just outside the penalty area, but the decision was sent upstairs for a VAR review.

The review was completed and referee Taylor took out the card he had shown Cafarguliyev and gave the signal to indicate it had been scrubbed away, which put the player in a celebratory mood as he held out his hand for a high five with the referee.

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However, with almost undeniable comic timing, Taylor proceeded to issue a red card with a straight face, as the challenge had in fact been upgraded to a foul, as he stared straight into Cafarguliyev’s eyes.

An extremely awkward clip of the exchange, released by TNT Sport, made the rounds on social media, also capturing the player’s look of half regret and half disappointment as he gets his marching orders.

With Qarabag being huge underdogs in the match, it will come as a surprise that they then scored again just three minutes after being down a man, making it 2-4 and seemingly putting a foot into the next round.

But not many teams have been able to keep Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen quiet for long this season, and the German team showed why they are the talk of Europe this season.

Frimpong then scored a composed volley from the penalty area at the back post in the 72nd minute to make it 4-3 and give the unbeaten hosts a sniff.

But after 90 minutes there was nothing more to come from an all-consuming Leverkusen and the Azerbaijani team looked set for a truly remarkable result before Czech international Patrik Schick dashed their dreams.

The striker struck twice in extra time; the slightest touch on a cross at the near post in the 93rd minute made it 4-4, and with six minutes and 50 seconds of the six added on the clock he headed home at the back post to make it 5-4. on aggregate.

It was quite a stunning comeback from a team that received high praise, but was desperately crushing for the visitors who found themselves inches away from one of their biggest nights in their history.

As such, Alonso has become one of the most highly regarded and sought-after coaches on the continent.

As a former Liverpool player, he is believed to be in line to replace Jurgen Klopp if the German leaves Anfield this summer, while he was also on the books of Bayern Munich, who are looking for their own head coach.

Then there is Real Madrid – another of his former clubs – who will be looking for a long-term successor to Carlo Ancelotti if he decides to leave the Spanish capital.

That said, after wowing most of Europe with his work at Leverkusen – who will beat serial winners Bayern to the German crown this season – he could decide to stay put and reap the benefits of the project where he has actually only just started.