Chelsea suffers disappointing draw against Qarabag

Chelsea had a difficult time in the Champions League against Qarabag in Baku, managing only a 2–2 draw.

Against the Azerbaijani champions Qarabag, who reached the Champions League league phase only through qualification, the Blues struggled to earn a draw, CE Report quotes Kosova Press.

Estevão put Chelsea ahead after 16 minutes. Leandro Andrade equalized in the 29th minute, while Marko Janković gave the hosts a surprising lead from the penalty spot in the 39th minute.

Alejandro Garnacho, who came on in the first half, equalized for the Premier League side in the 52nd minute.

Pafos from Cyprus won their first Champions League match against Spain’s Villarreal with a 1–0 result. Derrick Luckassen scored the winning goal in the 46th minute.

Tonight, seven other Champions League matches are taking place. The most interesting is between Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund.

Bayern Munich and Arsenal lead the table after four matches with a perfect 12 points. The Champions League features 36 teams, each playing eight matches against different opponents — four at home and four away. The top eight advance directly to the round of 16 in the knockout stage.

Teams ranked 9th to 24th enter a play-off round, where higher-ranked clubs face lower-ranked ones in two-legged ties, while teams finishing 25th to 36th are eliminated.

After the league and play-off phases, the tournament proceeds to the knockout stage, with two-legged ties except for the final. The current titleholder is Paris Saint-Germain.