JEREMIE FRIMPONG had a moment he’d like to forget after he was at fault for Qarabag’s opener tonight.
But it’s a Europa League clash the former Celtic wing-back will likely remember for the rest of his days as he inspired a late comeback for Bayer Leverkusen to propel them into the quarter-final.
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The Azerbaijani champions shocked the football world when they held the Bundesliga leaders to a 2-2 draw at home last week.
Leverkusen look unstoppable under Xabi Alonso this season and have yet to lose a single game across all competitions since the start of the campaign.
But that could have changed last week after Qarabag raced into a 2-0 lead before a dramatic late comeback saw Leverkusen score twice late on.
And it was a similar story in Germany for the second leg as underdogs Qarabag stunned the favourites with two second half goals to take a 4-2 lead on aggregate.
That’s even after they were reduced to 10 men while 1-0 up, with left-back Elvin Cafarguliyev shown a red card.
And it was Frimpong who allowed the away side to take a shock lead after he lost his man in the box, who then pounced on a dangerous cross to head home past goalkeeper Matej Kovar.
The first goal scorer was another familiar name for Hoops fans too as he’s been linked over a shock move to Parkhead ahead of the summer window.
Abdellah Zoubir, 32, could make a surprise move back to Scotland next season after he spent the 2013/14 campaign on loan at Hibs from French side Istres.
Celtic are reportedly tracking the veteran winger and are said to have sent scouts to watch him in recent months.
And it’s fair to say Brendan Rodgers would have been impressed if he saw him in action tonight.
Brazilian forward Juninho, who has no relation to the former Parkhead ace or Lyon legend, scored Qarabag’s second while they were down to 10 men – leaving Leverkusen two goals behind in the match and on aggregate.
But up stepped Frimpong on the 72nd to pull a goal back for the hosts, making it game on at the BayArena.
Despite being on top for most of the game, the home side struggled to add to their tally and Qarabag looked set to pull off a historic result in Germany.
But it wasn’t to be as Scotland’s Euro 2020 foe Patrik Schick netted TWICE in stoppage time to avoid the shock upset and the match from going to extra-time.
Frimpong’s goal takes him to 12 for the season and he has also registered 10 assists both domestically and in Europe.
Leverkusen have netted 106 in total under Alonso this season, meaning Frimpong has been directly involved in 20.75 per cent of all goals scored.
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