Azerbaijan’s Sabah reached the UEFA Champions League league phase for the first time in the club’s history after a dramatic 5-2 extra-time victory over Israel’s Hapoel Be’er Sheva in the playoff round, becoming the second Azerbaijani team to do so.
Hapoel Be’er Sheva, which won the first leg 2-1 in Romania, appeared to be heading through to the league phase after Igor Zlatanovic put the visitors ahead in the 10th minute.
Sabah responded through Christian Nwachukwu in the 38th minute, but Guy Mizrahi restored the visitors’ lead in the 61st minute.
Umarali Rakhmonaliev equalized for the Azerbaijani side in the 74th minute before Tellur Mutallimov dramatically scored in the fourth minute of stoppage time to make it 3-2 on the night and level the aggregate score at 4-4.
Mutallimov converted a cross from Tymoteusz Puchacz following a corner in the final action of regular time, sending the tie into extra time.
Sabah then completed the comeback in extra time, with Patrick Orphe Mbina scoring in the 101st minute before Joy-Lance Mickels added another in the 115th minute.
The Azerbaijani club ultimately won the tie 6-4 on aggregate.
The first Azerbaijani club to reach the UEFA Champions League league phase was Qarabag FK in 2017.
Tuesday’s results
Bodo/Glimt 3-0 NEC Nijmegen (Bodo/Glimt advance 6-1 on aggregate)
LASK Linz 5-1 Celtic (LASK Linz advance 5-4 on aggregate)