Today's Edition
KUUMAR SHYAM (ABU DHABI)
Al Wasl will be desperate to feed off their home support base at the Zabeel Stadium on Monday when they take on Al Sadd of Qatar in the knockout stages of the Asian Champions League (ACL) Elite division.
The domestic champions of the UAE Al Wasl have advanced past the group stage, while ACL winners and two-time tournament champions Al Ain fell short in the first season under the revamped format. Eight clubs are sparring for the right to represent the west of the continent in next month's quarter-finals.
However, Milos Milojevic's men go in the Round of 16 clash with shaky recent form against a team who have the best player of Qatar – Akram Afifi – in their ranks. And Afifi's ego will be hurting having come up a cropper when the national sides met on a home-and-away basis for the FIFA 2026 World Cup Asian Qualifiers. The UAE thrashed Qatar by 3-1 and 5-0 margins.
Yet, Al Wasl lost their last two group matches going into the ACL Elite knockouts. In the ADNOC Pro League, a 2-1 defeat to lowly Khor Fakkan on Thursday left them on 27 points and their title defence as good as over.
Head to head, Al Sadd have the better hand, too. This will be the fourth meeting between the two sides with the Qatari club having won twice, while the most recent encounter – in the league stage – ended in a 1-1 draw.
Felix Sanchez's side are well in place to defend their Qatar Stars League title, a 4-0 win over Al Gharafa on Thursday moving them to 37 points – one behind Al Duhail Sport Club. The mercurial Afif has four goals from seven matches, already matching his total tally over 17 matches from the previous three seasons.
Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr side will look to turn around a run of indifferent form against Iran's Esteghlal in Tehran. The Riyadh-based side are one of three Saudi Pro League teams to reach the last-16.
The latter stages will be played in a centralised format in Jeddah for the first time, with the four quarter-finalists from West Asia entering into the draw for the next phase on March 17 alongside four clubs from the east.
Last year's runners-up, Japan's Yokohama F Marinos, will take on Shanghai Port on Tuesday having earned a confidence-boosting 2-0 win over Kevin Muscat's team in the league phase last month. Thai League 1 champions Buriram United host a Johor Darul Ta'zim side buoyed by retaining their Malaysian league title last week.
