A press conference with the participation of our head coach Samir Abasov and captain Emin Mahmudov was held before the match between Neftchi and HIK, which will be held on August 3 at 21:00 at Bakcell Arena within the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. First, the head coach shared his thoughts about the game:

"Tomorrow we will play against a very interesting opponent. As the Finnish championship continues, the players of HJK, like Tbilisi Dynamo, are in very good physical condition. He is the champion of his country and a dangerous opponent. Finnish football is moving forward. The performance of the national team in EURO 2020 gives grounds to say so. The opponent has some advantages. Maybe he is better prepared than us. At least we have to do our best to stay in this tournament. I watched a lot of HJK's game. For example, they went to the championship match the day before. It has a rich enough staff. Despite losing one game and drawing one to Malmö, they are playing a pleasant, dynamic game. We are not in a bad mood either. Although we lost to Olympiacos, our motivation is in order. Some moments upset us. But we were able to change our mood. We know that the games are becoming more difficult. "

Then Emin Mahmudov spoke: “HIC is a very physically prepared team. However, let's keep in mind that we will play at home. We will try to fulfill the tasks of the head coach tomorrow and win.

Then Samir Abasov answered the questions of the media: "Let's look at the pre-match predictions with Olympiacos." We have shown the opposite. We performed well on the road and did not play badly at home. If we were lucky, we could pass. We felt sorry for the children. We were sad to lose to such an opponent because we played well. I wanted to win and jump on the stage. Staying in the atmosphere of that meeting can have a negative effect on us. The atmosphere in the team is very good. I do not want to make big promises. The opponent may be better than us physically, but we do not pay attention to it. If we can show our game, improve the level of the match against Olympiacos, we can achieve a successful result. The drawers say, "Neftchi", don't go anywhere, stay in the Europa League. The main thing for us is to pass the HJK. At least we don't think about Maccabi. In both tournaments, we faced the most undesirable opponent. Let's go through the HIC first to think about the next opponent. We compared Olympiacos with HJK. The current situation of HJK is more dangerous for us. Olympiacos has very good players. They sometimes give you gaps. We watched the last 6-7 matches of HJK. They show a very good team game. They make no gaps in attack or defense. If the coach says that there should be 4-5 people in the attack, they will definitely be there. These are the moments that will cause us difficulties. We will not stand on any player. I told the players yesterday. We had difficulties against the teams that closed against us. We will try to get a good result tomorrow. Those who came on later in the last match made us happy. They showed what they could do. Some may not be satisfied in terms of quality, but I liked their wishes. We will rely on these children in the championship. Yes, the reason we did not train at Bakcell Arena was to protect the stadium. We did not want to load the stadium because HJK will train here. I do not want to talk about the transfer. Tomorrow I can give a chance to Omar and Fahmin on the right wing. Mirabdulla's condition is also important for us. If he is ready, we can take Harramiz to the wing. I hope we will not have problems in today's training. Let's think about the game we will win, not the players we will lose."