Today's Edition
KUUMAR SHYAM (ALETIHAD)
Al Ain will be on guard against a backlash from Al Nassr when they take the field in Riyadh for the return leg of the Asian Champions League quarter-final against the star rivals from Saudi Arabia.
A first-half strike from Soufiane Rahimi was enough for the inaugural champions of the tournament in 2003 to take a home goal cushion against a side which calls upon Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mane in the offence while Aymeric Laporte played in the defence for most part of the game before he was shown the red card at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium.
Al Nassr are low in confidence as they also go in to the match on the back of a second defeat in a week. They lost 3-1 to Al Raed in the Saudi Pro League on Thursday, which all but shattered their title hopes on the domestic front.
Al Nassr will have to rediscover their form despite the morales taking a hit.
Adding to head coach Luis Castro’s woes is a growing injury list with Anderson Talisca among those who were already sidelined ahead of the Al Raed match, with the Brazilian’s season over after having undergone surgery in Milan couple of days back.
Sultan Al Ghannam and Aziz Behich also missed the Saudi Pro League tie while Ayman Yahya – who scored against Al Raed – also picked up a knock.
The absence of former Benfica and Besiktas player Talisca, who has scored 25 goals in 25 games in all competitions this season, is being sorely felt with Ronaldo picking up the workload.
Castro, speaking after last week’s first-leg loss, admitted that the injuries have taken a toll on his side but was adamant that Al Nassr will do their best to turn their fortunes around in the return encounter.
“We are halfway through this challenge and for now, qualifying for the semi-final looks difficult but we still have another 90 minutes in Riyadh,” said Castro.
Al Ain, meanwhile, will fancy their chances of getting the job done after their impressive win in front of their fans last Monday.
Al Ain were also without their star striker Kodjo Laba, out because of an injury, and Moroccan Rahimi stepped up and excelled. The goal was his sixth in the competition, matching Laba’s tally as the club’s highest scorer this season.
Hernan Crespo’s side followed up that victory by qualifying for the UAE League Cup final, progressing after defeating Ittihad Kalba on penalties.
Crespo, who steered Qatar’s Al Duhail SC to the AFC Champions League 2022 semi-finals, expects his side to remain focused as they seek to win the title for a second time.
“We managed to get a well-deserved win [in the first leg], and produced a good performance but the quarter-final match is not finished yet,” said Crespo.
The manager will need others to chip in again as they did the preivous Monday; especially emulate the fine example set by goalkeeper Khalid Essa, who twice denied Ronaldo with acrobatic saves.
Rahimi struck up a dangerous combination with Alejandro Romero, better known as Kaku, on the other hand. Rahimi had a goal chalked off, too, in the 23rd minute but it will count for nothing when the start whistle goes off at 11pm kick-off time in the UAE. Al Ain will also have the fatigue factor against them, having played the League Cup semi-final against Ittihad Kalba on Thursday. The match went into penalties after finishing 2-2 on aggregate.
