Sabah have their first-ever Champions League win — and they earned it the hard way, beating favourites Slavia Praha 2-0 in Baku with two second-half goals that will be replayed in Azerbaijan for years.
After a goalless first half at the Baku Olympic Stadium, Kaheem Parris broke the deadlock four minutes after the restart and Joy-Lance Mickels settled it two minutes from time, condemning Slavia to a second straight defeat in the league phase and lifting Sabah off the foot of their early campaign.
Parris Writes His Name Into Sabah History
There was nothing lucky about the opener. Ivan Lepinjica created it and Parris finished it in the 49th minute — Sabah's first goal in the Champions League proper, and the moment this club's European story stopped being about survival and started being about belief.
Slavia had arrived as clear favourites — the closing odds had the Czech champions at around 1.78 to win in Baku — and they had the ball for long spells, finishing with 55 per cent possession on the match page logged by theScore. What they did not have was a cutting edge. Tomas Chory led the line, Lukasz Provod probed, but Sabah's shape held and goalkeeper Stas Pokatilov stood behind it in commanding form.
The live coverage on Flashscore singled Pokatilov out for praise, crediting him with six saves on a night when Slavia kept knocking and kept getting the same answer.
Mickels Kills It Late
Slavia coach's changes told the story of a favourite running out of ideas: Mojmir Chytil, Samuel Isife, Mubarak Suleiman and Wiktor Nowak all came on as the visitors chased the game. Sabah answered with fresh legs of their own, and two of their substitutes combined to finish the job.
Orphe Mbina, who had replaced the goalscorer Parris, set up Mickels in the 88th minute, and the forward's finish made it 2-0 and turned the closing minutes into a celebration rather than a siege. For a club beaten 4-0 by Manchester United on Matchday 1, this was some response — a clean sheet, two goals, and three points against a side with far deeper European pedigree.
So What Does It Mean?
The table now reads very differently for both clubs. Sabah have three points from two games and, crucially, proof that they belong at this level — no future opponent will treat a trip to Baku as a formality. Slavia, by contrast, are pointless after two matches, having lost 3-2 at home to Lens on the opening night before this defeat, and their margin for error in the league phase is already thin.
For Sabah head coach Valdas Dambrauskas and his players, the challenge changes overnight: they are no longer the debutants hoping for a moment, they are a team opponents must now plan properly for. That brings its own pressure — but it is the best kind of pressure in football.
There is a wider point here, too, on a night when fellow debutants Viking were also stepping into this competition's spotlight: the expanded league phase was sold on giving more clubs nights exactly like this one. Baku delivered the advertisement.
Beyond the Final Whistle: This was not a smash-and-grab fluke — it was a coached, disciplined, deserved win. Parris and Mickels will get the headlines, but Pokatilov and that back line won Sabah this game, and Slavia's pointless start is now a genuine crisis, not a slow beginning. If Sabah defend like this again, Baku will take points off somebody even bigger.
Did Sabah just announce themselves as the league phase's surprise package — or will the bigger tests still find them out? Have your say in the comments.
