Sabah Qualifies for Champions League with Rakhmonaliev Goal

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — Uzbekistan national team midfielder Umarali Rakhmonaliev helped Azerbaijani club Sabah advance to the UEFA Champions League main stage following a 5-2 extra-time victory over Israeli side Hapoel Beer Sheva in the second leg of their qualifying playoff tie, UzDaily.uz reported.

Hapoel Beer Sheva opened the scoring in the 10th minute through Igor Zlatanovic before Kristian Nwachukwu equalized for Sabah prior to halftime. Guy Mizrahi restored the lead for the Israeli team in the 61st minute.

Rakhmonaliev scored Sabah's second goal in the 74th minute to bring the match level at 2-2. In stoppage time, Tellur Mutallimov put the Azerbaijani side ahead 3-2 to tie the aggregate score.

Sabah added two goals in extra time, with Orphe Mbina scoring in the 101st minute and Joy-Lance Mickels securing the final 5-2 result in the 115th minute. Hapoel Beer Sheva finished the match with nine men after Djibril Diop was sent off in the 100th minute and Eliel Peretz received a red card in the 116th minute.

Sabah won the tie 6-4 on aggregate following a 1-2 defeat in the first leg in Israel.

Sabah becomes the second Azerbaijani club in history to successfully navigate the Champions League qualifying rounds after Qarabag, which reached the group stage in the 2017/18 season and the main phase in 2025/26. Additionally, Sabah is the fourth Azerbaijani team to reach the main stage of any European club competition, joining Qarabag, Neftchi, and Gabala.