Weekend Guide 23.4.15

One weekend, three games, Worldwide. All the information.

We are getting closer to the end of April and for some leagues, the real action starts now. As usual, in our recap, we will check out great excitement and atmospheres in three lucrative matches. We will make another visit to Azerbaijan, we will be at the Eternal Derby of Serbia, and to finish off, we have a tight race for the title in Venezuela. Here we go!

(All times hours are in CET local time)

Saturday, 16:00, Qarabağ - Neftchi Baku (Azerbaijan Premier League)
As the stories about Azerbaijan, corruption and football are well-known and in the open, let's take a look at the Azeri domestic league. This weekend, the leading teams, Qarabağ and Neftchi Baku, will clash in a decisive match. Both of the teams have also qualified for the Azeri cup final, and will meet once again for another title.
Qarabağ is one of the teams who play in Baku, but it wasn't really up to them. Previously, the team had played in Agdam, but fighting in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in the Azeri-Armenian border made the town a dangerous ghost city.  The team has been playing in Baku for over 20 years. They are getting closer to another title, leading the table by 10 points with five games left. The club is having a great season, as they also only missed out on a Europa League last 32 spot to Inter because of a refereeing mistake. Look out for Reynaldo, the club's top scorer with 9 league goals, another Brazilian, Richard Almeida, who is also a talented figure, Muarem Muarem, the Macedonian midfielder who scored the decisive goal in the Europa League play-offs against Twente, and Leroy George, who was one of the leading players in last season Qarabağ's squad. Two more interesting faces are Vüqar Nadirov, who became the second player in the club’s history to make 200 league appearances, and Ansi Agolli, the veteran Albanian who previously played in Switzerland, Finland and Ukraine.

Neftchi Baku is one of the richest teams in Azerbaijan. For decades, the team was associated with oil workers of the lower-middle classes, until the rich state-owned oil company, SOCAR, became its main sponsor. After 3 consecutive titles, Neftchi failed to win the title last year, and now they are trying to keep their Europa League spot, as they’re currently in 3rd place. The big stars of the team are Nicolás Canales, who has returned to Neftchi after one season in his homeland Chile, Flavinho, a dominant Brazilian in the squad, and Ernest Nfor, a Cameroonian striker who arrived in Azerbaijan after 8 seasons in Belgium.

With the hopes for further development in Azeri football, without corruption or human rights violations, both teams will be part of great fight in the country’s top flight football.

Saturday, 18:00, Crvena Zvezda – Partizan Belgrade (Serbian Superliga)
One of the highlights of the season is the clash between the two biggest rivals in the league, and when the title is on the line, it's even bigger. On Saturday, the Eternal Derby (Večiti derbi) will be played in Belgrade.

Crvena Zvezda, known also as Red Star Belgrade, was the dominant team in Yugoslav football until 1992. 19 championships, four out of the last five titles in the former Yugoslavia, historical Champions Cup and Intercontinental titles in 1991, were all part of the club’s glorious trophy cabinet. Since Yugoslavia's breakup, Crvena Zvezda has failed to retain its past success, but they still manage to win the title from time to time, as they managed to do last term. This season, they are ranked in 2nd place, five points from Partizan. The leading players of the team are Predrag Rajković, who was part of the Serbia U-19 European Championships winning squad in 2013, Darko Lazović, who after 6 years will leave Crvena Zvezda for Genoa at the end of the season, and Savo Pavićević, who has played 39 times for the Montenegro national team.
Partizan Belgrade, the team who has won 25 domestic titles, want to do it once again. Since Yugoslavia was torn apart, they have become the dominant side in Serbia, with six titles out of the past eight. This year, they are close to doing it once again. A victory on Saturday would increase the gap to eight points with six games left to play. The key players of the team are Saša Ilić, a 37 year-old player who returned 5 years ago after a long  tour of Spain, Turkey and Austria, Branko Ilić, who has 58 caps for the Slovenia national team, and Nikola Drinčić, who scored the winning goal in the teams' last meeting.

Groups of fans from both clubs were involved in the Balkan wars during the nineties, and that is a huge part of this rivalry. We can write more and more about this match, but let us leave the stage for these fans – Crvena Zvezda's Delije (The Studs) and Partizan's Grobari (The Gravediggers). That’s just priceless.

Sunday, 22:00, Deportivo Táchira – Zamora (Venezuelan Primera División)
It's the final days of the Venezuelan Clausura, and three teams are still in contention for first place. In Venezuela, the Apertura and Clausura champions meet at the end of the season for a two-legged final, and the winner is crowned as champions. After Trujillanos’ Apertura title, it's the chance for Deportivo Táchira and Zamora to win the Clausura title.

Deportivo Táchira is one of the most successful teams in Venezuela: they have won seven domestic titles and they are the most represented Venezuelan team in the Copa Libertadores, with 18 appearances. They are ranked in 2nd place, one point behind the leaders, Caracas, but have played one match less. Their main players are the striker Gelmin Rivas, who has scored 38 league goals in 67 games since he arrived at the club, the midfielder César González, who has 56 caps for the Venezuela national team, the striker Yohandry Orozco, who came back to Venezuela after two years at Wolfsburg, and the defender Jorge Alberto Rojas, who won four league titles, the first back in 2001.
Zamora is one of the most improved teams in Venezuela. They were established in 2002, made their Primera Division debut in 2006, and they have been  champions of Venezuela for the past two seasons. The team's success came mainly thanks to Adelis Chávez, a former local bank vice-president and the brother of the former president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez. This season they are in 3rd place, two points from the top. There are a few talented youngsters in the squad such as Jhon Murillo, a 19-year old striker who scored on his  first and only appearance for the national team, and Yeferson Soteldo, a 17 year-old midfielder who is in his debut season for the senior team, but there are also some veteran players who have been playing for Zamora for years, like defender Moisés Galezo and midfielder José Torres.

A three-way race for the first place with two matches left. The 2nd and 3rd teams are fighting for the same spot. The stress levels are high, but only one team will come out on top and continue its path to the title.