Qarabag’s Champions League heroics, Benfica’s goalkeeper goal & Kazakhstan’s Borat arrests

Qarabağ have made Champions League history this season, becoming the first Azerbaijani club to ever reach the knockout stages of the competition – and setting up a play-off tie against Premier League team Newcastle United.

Their run has come at a time of dramatic geopolitical change in the South Caucasus, with the club preparing to return to their hometown of Ağdam after spending more than three decades in exile in the capital Baku.

Elsewhere, Bodø/Glimt stunned the continent by qualifying for the knockouts despite not playing domestic football since November, while Benfica hit the headlines with a goalkeeper goal and a viral TV interview from a local priest.

Club Brugge also progressed through the league phase, but that will not be the enduring memory of their season for three fans who accompanied the team to Kazakhstan and ended up in jail in one of the strangest away-day stories of the season.

Ghost Cities FC by James Montague for the BBC: www.bbc.com/audio/play/p0lxg7xy

Chapters

00:00 – Intro

00:41 – Qarabağ's historic Champions League run

02:01 – A story of exile and homecoming

07:22 – Soft power and state support

10:50 – The secret to their sporting success

14:37 – The challenges ahead: Newcastle and Sabah

17:02 – Patreon preview: Chapecoense and South America

18:33 – Another milestone for Bodø/Glimt

21:45 – Benfica's keeper goal and priest interview

26:07 – Brugge's congratulations and Borat arrests