Shels shocked as Qarabag show gulf in class in Champions League second round qualifier

Irish Examiner

4 days ago

Uefa Champions League second round, first leg
SHELBOURNE 0
QARABAG 3 (Leandro Andrade 12, Oleksiy Kashchuk 80, Nariman Akhundzade 85)
Trust someone with a Shamrock Rovers link to kick-start the monsoon dumped on Shelbourne's Champions League parade.
Pico Lopes is one of the few regular internationals in the League of Ireland and his Cape Verde teammate Leandro Andrade popped up to smother a promising start for Shels to this second-round tie.
That was admirable given the magnitude of the step-up in class from their first-round victory.
Losing to Linfield would have triggered a wider debate on comparisons between the two leagues on the island of Ireland but there's no debate as to how far ahead the Azeris are.
Specifically, that refers to Qarabag.
They've claimed the title in all bar one of the last 11 seasons, their monopoly derived from the investment that puts a value on the current squad of €25m.
Conservative estimates would quantify the Shels equivalent at 90% less.
While the gulf in class was evident in dispatches, the Reds did occasionally sculpt moments that could have brought with them something to the second leg in Baku.
That they squandered those moments, coupled with switching off to gift substitute Oleksiy Kashchuk and Nariman Akhundzade late goals, that all but confirms Shels have used up one of their three lifelines to reach group stage participation beginning in October.
Nariman Akhundzade of Qarabag scores his side's third goal. Pic: Ben McShane/Sportsfile.
Within the space of five minutes Shels descended from being in the tie to effectively being eliminated – a lesson as to the calibre of opponent in Uefa's supreme competition.
All the warnings of lapses being punishable issued by manager Joey O'Brien, only a month into the job since his boss Damien Duff abruptly quit on a Sunday morning, weren't heeded by his Shels players.
Ominously for the Irish title holders, Qarabag, on their home patch, in peak summer temperatures and a week further into their pre-season will pose a deadlier threat next Wednesday.
Shels knew from their triumph in Belfast last week that three more ties were ahead of them on this return to the European stage following an 18-year absence.
The second of those will be in the Europa League in a fortnight, the first leg away to the loser of another Champions League clash between Ludogorets (Bulgaria) or Rijeka (Croatia), who played out a scoreless draw.
Flat feelings across Tolka Park were a contrast to the opening 10 minutes when O'Brien's call to begin briskly had the desired effect.
From their first corner on seven minutes, Harry Wood's delivery was met by Tyreke Wilson's flying header which struck the arm of Behlul Mustafazade. Shels didn't have time to appeal before Seán Gannon's sliced effort rebounded off the post. A VAR check didn't award the penalty.
Five minutes later and the Azeri kingpins grabbed their lead from a clinical counterattack. They were appealing for a foul by Kameron Ledwidge when Leandro Andrade drove at the defence from the right, switched play to the left, where Abdellah Zoubir and Tural Bayramo combined to square for the Cape Verde attacker to sweep home from close range.
Akhundzade grazed the crossbar with a volley from a well-worked corner as Shels were stretched and all the hosts could conjure approaching the break was a header from captain Paddy Barrett which Fabijan Buntić almost contrived to fumble into the path of Mipo Odubeko.
The striker was nowhere near as involved in this tie but his wingers both had chances to level early in the second half. Ali Coote's deflected volley looped over the crossbar before Harry Wood uncharacteristically scuffed his chance at the back post when found by Kerr McInroy.
Barrett's cross also glanced off the crossbar as the sold-out crowd craved an equaliser but they were silenced by the late brace.
When Akhundzade's shot clipped the post with 10 minutes left, Ukrainian Kashchuk followed in to tap into the empty net.
Five minutes later and stand-in goalkeeper Lorcan Healy was left stranded by a header from Ledwidge that enabled Akhundzade to walk the ball over the goal-line while the row behind him ensued.
SHELBOURNE: L Healy; E Caffrey (J O'Sullivan 66), S Gannon (M Coyle 46), P Barrett, K Ledwidge, T Wilson (J Norris 18); K McInroy, JJ Lunney; A Coote (J Martin 66), M Odubeko (S Boyd 77), H Wood.
QARABAG: F Buntic; D Bolt (A Hüseynov 77), B Mustafazade, M Silva, T Bayramov; P Bicalho, Kady, E Addai; L Andrade (O Kashchuk 77), N Akhundzade (M Qurbanlı 88), A Zoubir (E Cafarguliyev 88).
Referee: Ante Čulina (CRO).