The hosts had slightly the better of the opening stages of the game, with the visitors happy to sit back at the start and protect their slender first leg advantage. Rwanda international Joy-Lance Mickels provided the first shot on target of the match with an effort from the edge of the box after nine minutes, but goalkeeper Mads Hedenstad was more than equal to the strike to keep his clean sheet intact. Sabah enjoyed more possession as the first half wore on, but were unable to create anything significant to break down the AGF defence.
However, the closing stages of the first half provided a little more drama, as Sabah’s Akim Zedadka found himself in a very promising position with six minutes to go before the interval, but his eventual shot was too tame and Hedenstad was able to make a comfortable save. With the stakes so high, Sabah knew they had to up the tempo, and that’s exactly what they did as soon as the whistle blew for the beginning of the second half.
They were almost rewarded just under 10 minutes after the restart when Mickels spurned a big opportunity to level the tie on aggregate, as he steered his effort from inside the box narrowly wide of the post to the anguish of the home supporters. However, Sabah’s constant pressure finally broke the deadlock just before the hour mark through Veljko Simić for his fifth UCL goal of the season already.
With the tie beautifully poised, Sabah made the most of their surging momentum and soon grabbed a second goal of the night thanks to Steve Solvet’s excellent header to put the reigning Azerbaijani champions 3-2 ahead on aggregate.At this stage, Jakob Poulsen’s team were all over the place, and instead of staging a comeback, they fell further behind when Mickels atoned for his earlier misses to find the back of the net with a rebound and give his side an overall two-goal cushion.
With the outcome of the tie now a formality, substitute Xander Severina netted in style to round off a superb night for the hosts. Sabah will now face Hapoel Be'er Sheva or Crvena Zvezda in the UCL play-off round, while AGF will move onto the play-off round in the UEFA Europa League – they are set to face Benfica, who thrashed Hearts 6-1 in the opening leg of their third-round qualifiers.