An ugly three minutes was enough to lead the Mars In defeat, in the away match against Araz, for the first game of the two teams in his qualifiers Conference Leaguewith the Azeris taking a qualifying lead with their 2-1 in favor.
Mars led in the clash with Moron’s flawless place at 66 ′, but then had bad reactions to his defense and allowed Araz to score twice, with Santos at 75 ′ and Andrande at 78 ′, to reach the scoring of the first game of the Conference League.
The “yellows” were even threatened with a bigger defeat, but escaped a third goal and now need a win with at least one goal in the rematch to avoid blocking from the next round of the competition.
The game
Mars had control over the longest period of the first half, but did not show any particular aggressive virtues and focused more on keeping Araz away from Athanasiadis’ fire.
The Greek goalkeeper only needed to react substantially to the first 45 minutes, rejecting a 28 ′ header, which was the only good time for the Azeris during this time.
Mars, for his part, tried to look dangerous mainly from the right, with Perez being his most active footballer and having two nice actions from the right, but with bad finishes before the home side.
The 0-0 was so easy until the break, with Araz more dangerous in the second half. The Azeris had two consecutive phases for goals at the start, with Athanasiadis saying both “no”, rejecting the shots of Simakala and Andrand.
Mars, for his part, found more empty spaces for a counterattack and with the entrance of Gianniotas “hit” Araz’s defense. The Greek extremist was the one who at 66 ′ made his vertical pass to Loren Moron to find the Spanish striker in a tet-a-tete position and to make a great deal of “yellow” in the match.
But there was an unlikely “blackout” for Mars, who conceded two goals in two phases, in a three -minute one, to be back in the scoring. At 75 ′ Santos scored with a powerful shot after a long phase in the area and at 78 ′ Andrande with… airplane scored closely, taking advantage of Athanasiadis’ poor reaction.
Araz then had two great opportunities for a third goal, but both Abasov and Keita were inappropriate for a shot under good conditions, allowing Mars to avoid a worse scoring in Azerbaijan. Marinos Ouzounidis now needs a win with 2 goals in the rematch to qualify and win with a goal to send the match to the extension.
The compositions in Araz – Mars
Araz: Avram, Abasov, Hasanalisanda, Rimpeiro, Bruno, Cohen (71 ′ Rodriguez), Andrande, Vaderson (90+1 ′ Karajev), Boli (90 ′ Iskandarov), Simakala (83 ′ Keita), Santos, Santos
Mars: Athanasiadis, Fandiga (83 ′ Morutsan), Brambets, Fabiano, Mendil (83 ′ Friedek), Ratsic, Yensen (62 ′ Gianniotas), Monzu, Perez, Diandi (77 ′ Techro), Moron