Marked for Rashad Jafarov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Inter
Abbas Hüseynov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rashad Jafarov is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad9 Aug 2027
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Dec 2026
Araz Mammadov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inter can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad21 Dec 2026
19 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Aug 2026
Nowhere to hide for Inter
1‑8 against Khazar, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad31 Aug 2026
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market31 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Inter, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A chastening introduction for Rashad Jafarov — 5.77
It is a hard way to meet a crowd. Marked 5.77 on the day he was handed the shirt, and the important thing now is what the next one looks like.
Match29 Aug 2026
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Inter and Khazar in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Market31 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Vugar Ozobic again, and this time the name on the line is Sumgayit. Inter are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inter this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.