Goalkeeper Ibrahim Sehic was 10-man Qarabag’s hero as they collected a first ever Champions League group stage point by holding last season’s semi-finalists Atletico Madrid in Baku.
The Azerbaijanis, who were trounced 6-0 by Chelsea in the first round of Group C fixtures, battled their way to a 0-0 stalemate despite the second-half dismissal of striker Dino Ndlovu to leave the Spanish side with just a single point from their first three games.
Full-time: 10-man Qarabag 0-0 Atletico Madrid
Diego Simeone's men in #UCL this year P3 W0 D2 L1 pic.twitter.com/vTcJ8r3SQK— PA Dugout (@PAdugout) October 18, 2017
Atletico enjoyed the better of the first half, but were unable to make the pressure tell with Yannick Carrasco, Saul and Antoine Griezmann all forcing saves from Sehic and Jose Gimenez stabbing a shot just wide five minutes before the break.
As they continued to frustrate the visitors, the Azerbaijanis grew in confidence and Atletico keeper Jan Oblak had to field Richard Almeida’s curling 63rd-minute effort from distance before Pedro Henrique screwed a close-range effort wide seconds later.
Ndlovu was booked for the second time for diving with 15 minutes remaining and although Griezmann blasted wide deep into stoppage time, Qarabag held out.
Source: By PA Sport Staff
