The visitors had the first chance of the game when a low shot from the edge of the box from Joy-Lance Mickels was held by Mads Hedenstad Christiansen. The hosts had the better of the play after this but struggled to create any chances, and they were almost caught out against the run of play on 23 minutes when Hedenstad Christiansen had to pull off a fine reaction save to deny Aleksey Isayev from a narrow angle.
However, Aarhus only needed one opportunity to take the lead, and that came just after the half-hour mark when the ball broke to Bogere on the edge of the box, where he smashed home a stunning first-time effort into the roof of the net, giving Stas Pokatilov no chance. The Azerbaijani champions didn’t lie down and had another couple of presentable openings just before the break when Umarali Rakhmonaliev forced a flying stop from Hedenstad Christiansen before Steve Solvet headed over the bar from the resulting corner.
Valdas Dambrauskas’ side began the second half like they ended the first and their dominance nearly paid off as Kaheem Parris curled an effort just over the top. But just as they were in the opening half, Sabah were made to pay by Bogere again. This time, he was slipped in by Magnus Knudsen, allowing the Ugandan striker to fire home first time into the far corner on 63 minutes. Sabah would have been forgiven for wilting but, to their credit, they halved the deficit just four minutes later as Veljko Simić was given the freedom of the Aarhus penalty area to slot home Rakhmonaliev’s cutback.
Rakhmonaliev was involved again on 75 minutes when this game’s penchant for one-touch finishes nearly continued, but the Uzbekistan international crashed his effort off the crossbar. And immediately, it was almost déjà vu at the other end, as the hosts’ swift breakaway saw Bogere do the hard part by beating no less than three Sabah defenders, only to get his angles all wrong as his shot skewed wide.
Sabah’s pace of play increased as the clock ticked down and they thought they had been rewarded less than a minute from time when Tymoteusz Puchacz’s deep free kick was bundled over the line at the back post, with Solvet being credited with the goal. However, VAR ultimately ruled out what would have been a crucial leveller to take into next week’s home leg for Bayquşlar.