The opponent of "Zira", which will represent Azerbaijan in the European League, in the 1st qualifying round has been determined. The Baku club will face Moldovan "Sherif" club in the first round.
We contacted Aslan Karimov to evaluate the pair. The former captain of the Azerbaijan national team said the following in his statement to Offsideplus.az:
" The opponent of "Zira" is really a team with enough experience. Before "Garabagh", "Sherif" already participated in the group stages of CL and AL. Therefore, the experience of the club to play in the Europa League is great. If we look at their squads, there will be 2-3 local players or not. Others are just legionnaires. This means that "Zira" faces a serious opponent in the first round. I think the home game might be a little easier. However, "Sherif" will give difficult times to "Zira" on the trip. Another factor here will be the transfer policies of the teams. "Zira" needs a player who can score goals. Because they have already parted ways with some of the players they played at the pointy end of the attack. For example, they said goodbye to Rahim. Pakman is injured and has not played for a long time. Meza Kolli plays in the center of the field. He could also be played in the attack sometimes, but they parted ways with him as well. It is obvious that "Zira" needs a striker in the championship. From this point of view, I don't know to what extent they will be able to make this transfer. It will be necessary to look at the strength of the players added to the opponent's team."