Theo Weeks’ Gabala FK survived a second leg onslaught to reach the group stage of the 2016-2017 UEFA Europa League with a narrow aggregate play-off win over the Slovenian side, NK Maribor.
After a 1-0 loss in Slovenia, Gabala progressed on the strength of their 3-1 win in Azerbaijan in the first leg.
Gabala’s goalkeeper Dmytro Bezotosny made several crucial saves in the first half as Gabala went to the break with a scoreless draw. However, he was beaten by Marcos Tavares, who shot from outside the penalty area in the 67th minute to give Maribor the lead at home.
Despite dominating the match, Maribor failed to get a goal again until the final whistle, as Gabala advanced on a 3-2 aggregate.
Gabala may have completed their mission of reaching the group stage of the Europa League, but Weeks will have to wait until the third round of matches in the group stage before making his group stage debut. He was shown a straight red card in the 70th minute for a reckless challenge on Erik Janza.
Although Weeks had praises for his team after the match, he expressed his disappointment for being suspended from Gabala’s next two games.
“Now I’m happy that we have reached the group stage, but I’m disappointed that I won’t be able to play the first two games,†he said. “It has been my dream to play at this stage, but not with the way things have gone.â€
Featured photo courtesy of Gabala FK.
