Marked for Ruslan Guseynov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 93 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Namig Abdullayev damages knee ligaments — 70 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 70 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match2 Dec 2026
Inter out of the cup
Khazar ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match7 Dec 2026
Inter refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 30 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ruslan Guseynov commits to Inter for another 2 years.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
Namig Abdullayev damages knee ligaments — 123 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 123 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Cavid Garayev breaks a bone — 79 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 79 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match17 Oct 2026
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Match17 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Inter do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Defensive actions: 23. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Richard Mammadov is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Inter training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richard Sheydaev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
Inter supporters have found a favourite in Qara Dadashov
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Qara Dadashov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.04, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Namig Abdullayev damages knee ligaments — 130 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 130 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Cavid Garayev breaks a bone — 86 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 86 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Ruslan Guseynov, 35, rolls back the years — 7.91
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.91 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match10 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Inter do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad12 Oct 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Inter
Qara Dadashov 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.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I watch every Inter game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Fatih Karagumruk runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match10 Oct 2026
Honours even between Inter and Ravan
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad28 Sep 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Inter training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ruslan Guseynov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Namig Medvedev out for 62 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Inter will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Inter
Cəlal 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Richard Huseynov ran the middle of the pitch — 7.24
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 14 combined actions and a mark of 7.24, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Richard Huseynov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match19 Sep 2026
Three points for Inter, 2‑0 the final word against Kapaz in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Tamkin Garayev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Lapidar Lladrovci falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad21 Sep 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.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Inter, and 0 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Namig Medvedev out for 99 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Inter will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad17 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
3 academy players handed senior numbers at Inter
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Market17 Aug 2026
One of our own: Ruslan Ozobic joins the Inter first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ruslan Ozobic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market17 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Cavid Huseynov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market17 Aug 2026
One of our own: Agil Garayev joins the Inter first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Agil Garayev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Inter training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ruslan Guseynov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Aug 2026
This league is too small for Pijus Širvys
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Inter will not keep him by pretending otherwise.