SHAMAKHI, Azerbaijan (Interstat) — Neftchi Baku scored three times and survived a determined Shamakhi response, earning a 3-2 victory on Sunday in a match that featured five goals, four yellow cards and a series of second-half changes. Shamakhi was the home side, while Neftchi Baku played as the visitor and left with the result after Adeleke Akinyemi supplied the winning goal in the 75th minute. The visitors’ third goal came after Shamakhi had twice equalized, and Neftchi Baku then defended its narrow advantage through the final minutes.

Gustavo Klismahn gave Neftchi Baku the lead in the 15th minute. The early goal put Shamakhi under pressure and forced the home side to respond. Shamakhi found its answer in the 24th minute when Abdullahi Shuaibu scored, leveling the match and changing the flow of the first half. Neither side added another goal before the break, leaving the contest tied at halftime.

Neftchi Baku regained the lead in the 49th minute when Breno Almeida scored. The goal came early in the second half and gave the visitors renewed control. Shamakhi responded again in the 64th minute through Ayman Bouali, whose goal made it 2-2 and set up a tense final stretch. Neftchi Baku kept pushing and found the decisive moment in the 75th minute when Akinyemi scored. That goal restored the visitors’ advantage and proved to be the final goal of the match.

Klismahn scored in 64 minutes of action. Almeida scored while playing the full match. Shuaibu scored in 59 minutes for Shamakhi, Bouali scored in 78 minutes, and Akinyemi scored in 26 minutes for Neftchi Baku. Neftchi Baku’s goals came from Klismahn, Almeida and Akinyemi, while Shamakhi’s goals came from Shuaibu and Bouali. Those performances shaped a back-and-forth game in which Shamakhi twice pulled level but could not find a third equalizer after Akinyemi’s goal.

Shamakhi’s Ricardo Fernandes received a yellow card in the 54th minute. Neftchi Baku’s Mathew I. was booked in the 63rd minute. Shamakhi’s Bagirov A. was booked in the 66th minute, and Neftchi Baku’s Abbasov R. was booked in the 89th minute. The cards came as both teams increased the tempo, but Neftchi Baku maintained its composure and protected the lead through the closing minutes.

Shamakhi made its first substitution in the 59th minute when Shuaibu came off. Neftchi Baku made two changes in the 64th minute when Vargas F. and Klismahn departed. Shamakhi made another change in the 65th minute when Adilkhanov E. entered. Neftchi Baku’s Jubitana D. came on in the 77th minute. Shamakhi then made three changes in the 78th minute, with Marques F., Bouali and Mammadov O. departing. Neftchi Baku’s Mathew I. was substituted in the 83rd minute. The late substitutions gave both teams fresh options, but Neftchi Baku held firm after taking the lead for the third time.

The result moved Neftchi Baku to 1-0-3 in the competition and 1-0-3 across all competitions. Shamakhi is now 1-2-1 in the competition and 2-2-1 across all competitions. Neftchi Baku had previously drawn with Turan Tovuz, drawn with Qarabag and drawn with Sabah Baku. Shamakhi had beaten Hypers Guba FC, lost to Imisli FK, beaten Safa and drawn with Zira. The victory was Neftchi Baku’s first in the competition this season, while Shamakhi was left with a second loss in the competition after a closely contested home match.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Shamakhi 2, Neftchi Baku 1. Interstat’s ELO system had projected Neftchi Baku with a 74.9 percent probability to win. Neftchi Baku had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of -1. The total score of 5 went under the over/under line of 2.5.