Qarabag FK will take on Aberdeen in the Europa Conference League play-off round, with the first leg taking place on Thursday at Tofiq Bahramov Stadium in Baku.
The reigning seven-time champions of Azerbaijan took out AEL Limassol of Cyprus 2-1 on aggregate to get to this point of the competition, while The Dandies won both legs of their third-round qualifying tie with Breioablik from Iceland (3-2 and 2-1) to advance to this stage.
Match preview
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The Europa Conference League may be in its inaugural campaign, but Qarabag are no strangers to European football.
The Horsemen have played in the Champions League and the Europa League in every season since the 2014-15 campaign, making it to the group stage in the latter tournament each time.
Domestically they are head and shoulders above the other sides in their league, winning their last two campaigns by eight points, conceding only 20 goals in a shortened schedule in the 2019-20 season, the last one before COVID-19.
In past seasons in Europe, they have faced some pretty stiff competition, being grouped with the eventual Europa League winners in each of the last two campaigns (Villarreal and Sevilla) while also facing the Europa League runners-up (Arsenal) in 2018-19.
The hope is that all of those experiences can prove valuable to this team, who are looking to make the group stage of a European competition for an eighth successive occasion, where have yet to make it to the knockout stage.
Manager Gurban Gurbanov, the all-time leading goalscorer for the Azerbaijan national team, has got his side to this point with a solid defensive system, conceding only one goal in their four qualifiers.
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While Qarabag made it to this stage by preventing goals, Aberdeen have gotten this far by being able to score at will, with 10 combined goals in their four qualifying ties.
Stephen Glass saw his side produce a real workmanlike effort as they scored three away goals in their opening leg versus Breioablik in the last qualifying round, following that up with a 2-1 win in the return leg in Scotland.
The Dons have seen their share of European action over the past few seasons, but it has been quite some time since they have made it beyond the qualifiers, 2007-08 to be exact when the Europa League was known as the UEFA Cup and the Scottish side made it to the third round before losing to Bayern Munich.
Domestically, this side have been remarkably consistent through the years, finishing in the top four in the Scottish Premiership in each of their last seven campaigns, and they have never been relegated.
They are also the only Scottish team to win more than one European trophy, capturing the European Cup Winners' Cup and the European Super Cup in 1983, and they would love to make some new memories decades later.
Fresh off their elimination in the Scottish League Cup to second-tier side Raith Rovers, they will be keen to make sure an upset like that does not happen again.
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Team News
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Kady notched the only goal in the return leg for Qarabag versus AEL Limassol to send them through to this stage of the competition, while goalkeeper Shahrudin Mahammadaliyev has collected three clean sheets in their four qualifying games.
Elvin Jafarguliyev is out with a heel bone injury, while Badavi Huseynov has been out of the lineup since early June with an unknown injury.
Their skipper Maksim Medvedev leads the club in all-time appearances with over 300 since 2006, while Croatian midfielder Filip Ozobic led the team in goals last season with 11 in the domestic league.
Lewis Ferguson and Christian Ramirez have each scored three goals for the Dons in the qualifying stages of this tournament, while Ryan Hedges notched a brace in the second leg of their third-round tie.
Centre-back Andrew Considine has played his entire career at Aberdeen, earning over 560 caps for the club, while Jay Emmanuel-Thomas got the only goal this weekend in their defeat to Raith Rovers in the Scottish League Cup.
Michael Devlin continues to nurse an ankle injury for the Scots, while Declan Gallagher has started in central defence in each of their last two fixtures in all competitions.
Qarabag FK possible starting lineup:
Mahammadaliyev; Bayramov, Medina, Medvedev, Huseynov; Andrade, Garayev; Zoubir, Ozobic, Romero; Sheydayev
Aberdeen possible starting lineup:
Lewis; Ramsay, MacKenzie, Gurr, Considine; McCrorie, Brown, Ferguson, Hedges; Emmanuel-Thomas, Ramirez
We say: Qarabag FK 1-1 Aberdeen
Qarabag have a lot of experience playing in Europe, but it remains to be seen how much progress they have made through the years as they have struggled to score in Europe, and that has continued in the qualifying stages at this tournament.
Aberdeen will be going up against a much tougher defensive unit than in any of their four previous qualifiers, but they have played well away from home, scoring three goals in their opening leg in the last round.
Joel Lefevre
