Vardanyan steals the show in Azerbaijan: brace and assist in Dynamo’s victory

Karen Vardanyan, the Armenian-descended forward of Dinamo Minsk, emerged as one of the main heroes of the Conference League away match against Azerbaijan’s Neftchi.

The match, held in Sumgait, ended in a 4–2 victory for the Belarusian club. Vardanyan scored twice, finding the net in the 36th and 57th minutes, and also provided an assist.

The hosts opened the scoring in the second minute through Emin Mahmudov. Neftchi doubled their advantage in the eighth minute following an own goal by Aleksandr Selyava. However, Dinamo Minsk managed to turn the game around.

In addition to Vardanyan, Maksim Malashevich scored for the Belarusian side in the 47th minute, while Gulzhigit Alykulov found the net in the 77th.

Karen Vardanyan has Armenian roots on his father’s side. His father left the family when he was young, so the future footballer was raised by his Belarusian mother. Vardanyan later chose to represent the Belarus national team.

He previously played for Belarus against the Armenian national team in a match held in Yerevan.