World press writes about Sabah's grand comeback: "An unforgettable soccer drama" - PHOTO

The dramatic victory of the Sabah football club over the Israeli team Hapoel (Beersheba) in the playoff stage of the UEFA Champions League (5:2, aggregate score 6:4) and its qualification for the league stage of the tournament are at the center of attention of the world sports press.

According to AZERTAC, international media outlets widely covered the success of the Azerbaijani champion.

The Associated Press (AP) called the advance of the Baku club, founded in 2017, to the general stage of the Champions League in such a short time a great sensation. The article particularly highlights Tellur Mutallimov's goal in the 90+4th minute of the match, as well as the fact that the accurate strikes by Orfe Mbina and Joy Lance Mickels in extra time decided the outcome of the game.

The Turkish agency Anadolu noted that Sabah became the second Azerbaijani team after Qarabag to earn a place in the main stage of this prestigious tournament.

The newspapers Fanatik and Fotomaç described the return match in Baku as "an unforgettable soccer drama." The outlet NTV Spor considered it a rare indicator for European football that a club with a 9-year history passed 4 qualifying rounds in a row and broke through to the group stage.

The Hürriyet outlet, drawing attention to the victory over an opponent superior in financial resources, wrote: "The Azerbaijani representative, whose squad's total value is approximately 17 million euros, knocked out of the competition an opponent with a large budget, turning into one of the most talked-about teams in European football."

The Israeli newspaper The Times of Israel presented the result under the headline "Seconds away from Champions League, Hapoel loses to Sabah in extra time." The article notes that the goal scored 19 seconds before the final whistle, which leveled the score, psychologically broke the Beersheba representative, and the red cards (Djibril Diop and Eliel Peretz) received in extra time completely knocked the club out of the game.

The country's leading sports portals Sport5 and ONE called this defeat a "Baku tragedy," particularly emphasizing the high pressing and persistent play demonstrated by Sabah during the match.