Atletico Madrid travelled to Azerbaijan in desperate need of three points, but they came up against a determined Qarabag side, who held their own throughout the whole 90 minutes.
Gurban Gurbanov’s side started the game brightly, looking to hit on the break. They did, however, fail to find the killer pass to split open Atletico's stern defense throughout the majority of the first period.
It took 26 minutes for the first clear-cut chance to fall for Atletico Madrid. Filipe Luis worked his way down the left before delivering a low cross for Nicolas Gaitan, but he couldn’t get over his strike and sent it high over the bar.
Minutes later, Yannick Ferreira Carrasco was released in behind the Qarabag defence and found himself one-on-one with the Ibrahim Sehic, but his effort was brilliantly turned behind.
The best chance of the half fell to Antoine Griezmann after 39 minutes. Kevin Gameiro slipped him in on goal and the French forward opened up his body to try and bend one round Sehic, but the Qarabag goalkeeper stuck out a leg to block.
After the restart, both sides continued at their rather lethargic pace, with no immediate attempts to break the deadlock.
It was Qarabag who brought Jan Oblak into the first save of the second 45 when Richard Almeida had a go from distance following a long spell of possession from the hosts, but his strike was deflected and easily saved by the man between the sticks for Atletico.
The home side continued to press and had another chance with 20 minutes to play. Mahir Madatov found Dino Ndlovu on the edge of the box and following some quick feet, he unleashed a left-footed strike that flew just over the bar.
Ndlovu then ruined his strong performance by picking up a second yellow card for simulation. He was trying to earn his side a penalty on 75 minutes, but the referee believed the Qarabag man dived.
Atletico wanted a late penalty after some shaky goalkeeping from Sehic. He fumbled the ball, allowing Gabi to nip in and cross for Fernando Torres, but he failed to direct the header on target with pressure coming in from a Qarabag defender. The referee, however, saw nothing wrong with the challenge and waved play on.
With that, Qarabag did enough to close out the game meaning the spoils were shared in Azerbaijan. The result doesn’t really help either side as Atletico needed at least a win to put the pressure on Roma and Chelsea in Group C, while Gurbanov’s men remain at the bottom of the pile.