The Chairman of the AFFA Referees' Committee, Frank De Bleeckere, has commented on the controversial episodes in the first leg of the Azerbaijan Cup semi-finals.

According to the press service of the committee, the Belgian expert first addressed the match between "Araz-Nakhchivan" and "Qarabagh" (1:0).

He talked about the penalty awarded against "Qarabagh", which even caused head coach Gurban Gurbanov to break his tablet out of frustration: "In the 24th minute, during a corner kick taken by 'Araz-Nakhchivan', the ball is passed toward the near post. 'Araz-Nakhchivan' player Issouf Paro plays the ball with his right foot. Behind him, 'Qarabagh' player Yassin Benzia hits Paro’s right foot without touching the ball. The referee allows the game to continue, but after a VAR intervention, the referee reviews the incident and awards a penalty in favor of 'Araz-Nakhchivan'. The referee’s decision to award the penalty is correct."

In the "Neftchi" vs "Sabah" (1:2) match, a penalty was also awarded. De Bleeckere confirmed that in the 19th minute, "Sabah" player Tellur Mütəllimov committed a foul in the penalty area against "Neftchi" forward Ağadadaş Salyanski, and the decision to award a penalty was accurate. However, the Chairman of the Referees' Committee mentioned that a penalty should have been awarded to "Sabah": "In the 90+1st minute, during a counterattack by 'Sabah', the ball reaches their player Coy Lens Mikels. He moves toward the goal line and strikes the ball. After striking, 'Neftchi' player Yuri Matias contacts Mikels’ foot late. The referee continues the game and awards a corner kick to 'Sabah'. The contact with the foot is clearly visible, and therefore we expected a penalty and a VAR intervention."