FC Twente endure painful evening and put their Conference League participation in jeopardy | Goal.com
FC Twente lost the first leg against FK Qarabag 0-1. The Tukkers started sharply but ended up with a narrow defeat. In the return leg, John van den Brom's side must try to secure participation in the Conference League.
Inside a lively Grolsch Veste, Twente came flying out of the blocks. After five minutes, Bart van Rooij almost picked out Wout Weghorst with a dangerous cross. Qarabag then took more control and saw more of the ball, but John van den Brom's side gave away barely any chances. Ruud Nijstad only just snuffed out a dangerous Azerbaijani attack before it could develop.
By the 38th minute, the first real threat came off the boot of Marko Pjaca. His low drive towards the near corner almost beat goalkeeper Martin Zlomislic. Twente could not turn their superiority into clear openings before the break. On the stroke of half-time, Lars Unnerstal had to stretch at full length to keep his goal intact.
At the break, Robin Pröpper stayed in the dressing room and Max Bruns came on. Soon after the restart, his partner Nijstad carelessly gave the ball away and sent Qarabag charging towards the Enschede goal with an overload. Kady struck the post at the near corner. Moments later, the visitors made the next attack count.
Jaly Mouaddib turned smartly and found the unmarked Musa Gurbanli in the penalty area, who with a great deal of fortune laid the ball off for Kady. This time, the Brazilian beat the German goalkeeper: 0-1. Twente responded straight away with a huge chance for Orjasaeter. Pjaca's cross was headed just wide from close range.
After an hour, Weghorst, who had been barely involved, went off. Loud cheers greeted the substitution as his replacement Sam Lammers came on. Qarabag had defended strongly throughout the qualifying rounds and Twente also found it hard to create chances. The visitors filled the penalty area with black shirts and left the Tukkers with hardly any room to work in.
Still, Twente kept pushing for an equaliser, but the low, compact block of Qurban Qurbanov's side held firm. The home side ran into the Azerbaijani defence with every attack, though they did manage to pin Qarabag back. Twente could not find a leveller and now travel to Baku next week, where they must try to overturn the 0-1 deficit to secure participation in the Conference League.
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