The third qualifying round of the 2016-2017 Europa League was played on Thursday, July 28 with 58 teams fighting to book a place in the playoff round.

Theo Weeks’ Gabala FK participated in an away match at French League One giant, Lille Olympique Sporting Club.

Gabala failed to grab a win as they were held to a 1-1 draw.

With a defeat and three wins from their previous four qualifying matches, Gabala opened the scoring at the Stadium Lille-Metropole in the 13^th minute through Ukrainian defender Vitaliy Vemydub, who scored from a close range.

Up a goal, Gabala was able to maintain the score at 1-0 and prevent Lille from getting an equalizer until the end of the first half.

Two minutes into the second half, Lille managed to get the equalizer through Cape Verdean forward Ryan Menes.

Lille dominated most of the second half but was unlucky to get a goal to earn them all three points at home, as Gabala returns to Azerbaijan with a point to rely on.

Despite the draw, Gabala head coach Roman Hryhorchuk was pleased with his team’s performance and described the result as a historic one for the club.

“Taking into consideration of the level of our opponents, the draw today was a fair result,” Hryhorchuk said in a post-match conference. “We are very pleased with the result. We will do everything we can to pass this stage. It’s a historic result for us. We have gained experience playing against Lille, a team that is well organized, and has high speed of players.”

Theo Weeks, an interview with The Bush Chicken, said he’s confident of his side progressing because of their good performance at previous home matches.

“The result here in France is not a bad one for us,” he said. “We won Samtredia 5-1 and MTK Budapest 2-0 at home. We hope and pray the good home form continues for our good.”

Gabala will need at least a scoreless draw or a win at home on August 4, if they are to qualify to the play-off round.

Featured photo courtesy of Gabala FK