Celtic laughed at us, say angry Qarabag

The Parkhead side squeezed through to the play-off section of European football’s premier competition after a nervy goalless draw in Baku.

But Qarabag players were angry at some Celtic players during the game.

And Garayev pointed the finger of blame towards Scotland star Brown.

He said: "We knew it would be difficult because of the quality of the pitch, but Celtic played far worse than I expected.

"And their players did not act the way I expected either.

"They did everything except try and play football.

"They verbally provoked us and if we misplaced a pass they ran up to us and laughed at us.

"Their players intentionally went to ground too.

"It was the Celtic captain who was the worst. After this game, my memory of him and the

Celtic players is not very pleasant.”

And the 2014 Azerbaijani Footballer of the Year insisted the much-talked about playing surface actually helped Celtic.

He pointed out: "The fans were great, the atmosphere was great, but we had no advantage because the pitch was so bad.

"Who is to say we wouldn’t have beaten them in Baku on a perfect surface?

"It was our home ground and yet because of the pitch, we couldn’t take advantage of the support we received.

"It completely affected the way we play football.”

And Garayev had one final dig at the Scottish champions, after he revealed what happened after the final whistle when he clashed with several Celtic players again.

He noted: "It seems Celtic players can do much more than play football ­— they can actually somehow make the referee give their opponents a warning too.”

 

(The National)