Qarabag boss Gurban Gurbanov explains Tottenham kick-off delay in furious outburst: 'Shouldn’t have happened'

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·26 settembre 2024

Qarabag boss Gurban Gurbanov explains Tottenham kick-off delay in furious outburst: 'Shouldn’t have happened'

Gurbanov said his team were told they had only 40 minutes to prepare after arriving late at the stadium

Qarabag boss Gurban Gurbanov was left fuming at the circumstances resulting in a 35-minute delay ahead of his side’s defeat to Tottenham

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Kick-off was pushed back after Qarabag's team bus was caught in heavy traffic for more than two-and-a-half hours on the way to the ground, meaning they did not arrive until 15 minutes before the match was due to start at 8pm.

Gurbanov hit out at the face his players were not offered a police escort until the final mile and says his players were impacted by the delays as they had limited time to prepare after making it to the stadium.

"My players were excited and were playing against a very strong team," Gurbanov said.

"Tottenham were more experienced and some of our players are new to this level. Their experience told. We had some chances to score but we missed them.

"Imagine you are being caught in traffic for more than two-and-a-half hours. I don’t want to make excuses. It shouldn’t have happened. We had to come ourselves, there was no police to escort us. It had a big impact on our players. But that doesn’t take anything away from our opponent.

"As soon as we arrived, we were told in 40 minutes we had to start. We were not as prepared as we should have been. But these are things that happen."

Qarabag were beaten 3-0 by Spurs, despite playing the vast majority of the match with an extra man after Radu Dragusin’s early read card.

The visitors had plenty of chances but were wasteful throughout, particularly when Toral Bayramov blasted a penalty against the top of the bar, and they returned to Azerbaijan empty-handed.