Azerbaijan's football club Sabah has advanced to the Champions League group stage after defeating Israel's Hapoel Be'er Sheva in the qualifying round. Kazakh goalkeeper Stas Pokatilov started for the Baku side, becoming the only Kazakh representative in Europe's premier club tournament, reports infohub.kz.
The second leg of the final qualifying round took place at the Tofiq Bahramov Stadium in Baku. Regular time ended with a 3:2 home victory, with the decisive goal scored in the dying seconds of stoppage time. For Sabah, Nigerian midfielder Nicholas Nwachukwu (38th minute), Uzbek midfielder Umarali Rakhmonaliev (74th), and Azerbaijani defender Tellur Mutallimov (90+4) found the net.
For the visitors, Serbian striker Igor Zlatanović (10th) and Israeli defender Guy Mizrahi (61st) scored. With the aggregate score level at 4:4, the match went to extra time. In overtime, Sabah struck twice more through Gabonese forward Orphé Mbin (101st) and Rwandan striker Joy-Lance Mickels (115th).
Hapoel finished the match with nine men after Senegalese defender Djibril Diop (100th) and Israeli midfielder Eliel Peretz (116th) were sent off. The final aggregate score was 6:4 in favor of the Azerbaijani team, which reached the Champions League group stage for the first time in its history. Sabah's opponents will be determined in the draw on August 27.
Stas Pokatilov started for Sabah with the captain's armband and played the entire match without being substituted. Thus, he will be the only Kazakhstani to feature in the Champions League group stage this season.