HJ Helsinki will look for home advantage to help them overturn a 2-1 deficit against Qarabag in their UEFA Europa League qualifier. Last week, the Azerbaijani team secured a significant first-leg advantage at home, leaving the Finnish team with a mountain of work to do in order to proceed.
Preview (HJ Helsinki vs Qarabag)
Leandro Andrade gave Qarabag the lead after the first half ended scoreless in Baku. Anthony Olusanya then tied the score. HJK couldn’t hold on as Juninho scored the game-winning goal in the 85th minute. With 62% possession and 16 shots, it is fair to say that Qarabag controlled the game at home. HJK can only consider themselves unlucky to have had nothing to show for their efforts despite having seven attempts on goal. The Finnish team hasn’t played since losing last week. Their last Veikkausliiga match was on August 5 against IFK Mariehamn. They won 4-2 to earn their third straight league win and put pressure on KuPS.
Toni Korkeakunnas’ team is one point behind KuPS with three games left in the 2023 Veikkausliiga regular season. They have lost only two of their previous 19 games. They also have the best offensive record in the competition. On Sunday, Qarabag defeated Turan Tovuz 3-0 thanks to goals from Juninho, Abdellah Zoubir, and ex-Nottingham Forest and Huddersfield Town forward Adama Diakhaby. This result followed their victory in the first leg. The 2023–24 Azerbaijan Premier League season began with the Horsemen losing 1-0 to Zira FK. They quickly bounced back as they sought their 10th top-flight championship in 11 years.
Qarabag began the new season with a 6-1 overall victory over Gibraltar’s Lincoln Red Imps. They were unable to advance through Rakow Czestochowa in the early stages of the Champions League qualification process. Thus, since the 2023–24 season began, Gurban Gurbanov’s team has amassed four victories. They also produced one tie and two defeats in all competitions. In doing so they scored at least two goals five times but only managed to keep two clean sheets.
Team News
Dejan Iliev, the injured goalkeeper for HJK Helsinki (elbow), is still out. Jesse Ost will continue to play in goal for the visitors. Joona Toivio, Miro Tenho, and Jukka Raitala appear destined to make up HJK’s three-man backline with Valtteri Moren (knee) and Oliver Pettersson (knee) also out injured. On the other hand, because both right-backs are still recovering from injuries, Qarabag will be without Abbas Huseynov and Marko Vesovic for the foreseeable future.
In front of goalkeeper Sahruddin Mehemmedeliyev, Toral Bayramov will likely continue to fill in for the visitors’ backline, which also includes Bahlul Mustafazada, Kevin Medina, and Elvin Cafarguliyev. HJK Helsinki has little choice but to go all out against Qarabag in an effort to turn the match around, but the home team’s offensive strategy will probably leave them vulnerable at the back. In light of this, we anticipate Qarabag to withstand some early pressure before selecting their opportunities to put the match beyond HJK’s grasp.
HJ Helsinki 1 – 2 Qarabag
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