Head coach of Azerbaijan Under-21 team, Rashad Eyyubov, expressed his views to the AFFA press service regarding the match against Gibraltar played within the UEFA Under-21 Championship qualifying round.
Head coach said that he was satisfied with the performance of the team after winning 1-0: “This match was interesting for me first of all. The main issue was how to break through the opponent's block, where they were defended by 10 men. In the first half, we created several scoring moments, but we could not realized them. In the second half, we changed the system and put more pressure on the opponent. Overall, we deserved to score more goals, but I am happy with the 3 points and the win. We knew that the game here would be difficult. Czechia and Scotland also faced the same problems.”
Rashad Eyyubov said that he was not surprised by the performance of Murad Mammadov, who scored the winning goal: “I knew that Murad Mammadov would be one of the key players of the match. Because he has excellent qualities for playing against low blocks. I hope that this goal will give Murad even more self-confidence. I believe that this result will be a positive impulse for the development of the players.” He also expressed his thoughts on Rufat Abbasov, who joined the U-21 staff after the official matches of the national A-team: “I would like to thank Rufat. After a long and difficult journey, he showed character, fought for 90 minutes. In general, the whole team demonstrated that they can play in a more dominant style. Many players surprised me in a positive way.”
R. Eyyubov also touched on the fact that head coach of the national A-team, Aykhan Abbasov, was watching the match from the stand: “It was nice to have the head coach of the national A-team watching our game. This gave the players additional motivation. Now we will analyze the work done. We are optimistic about the future.”
