Abu Dhabi: Injury-plagued Al Ain will bid to shrug off their problems as they take on Uzbekistan’s Pakhtakor in their AFC Asian Champions League Group B encounter in Tashkent on Wednesday.
Al Ain will be without both of their star players — Ghanaian goalscorer Asamoah Gyan and Emirati playmaker Omar Abdul Rahman. Captain Helal Saeed and Mohammad Fayez will also miss the contest. Gyan is out with an infection, while Abdul Rahman, Saeed and Fayez are all nursing injuries.
Gyan has been in tremendous form, having scored 11 goals in the Arabian Gulf League this season to help his side to the top of the table, four points clear of Al Jazira, and his absence will definitely hurt the team.
However, Al Ain midfielder Miroslav Stoch was confident the team’s performance will not be hit by the absentees.
“We came to defend the reputation of Al Ain. It is not easy to get qualification because there are strong teams in this group. Despite the absence of some of the players, we have a bunch of good players who have the ambition to take the team to the next round,” the Slovakian said.
Al Ain coach Zlatko Dalic was also upbeat about his side’s chances against group-topping Pakhtakor.
“We take the field eyeing only a win. We shall try for a good performance and take a point at least. Pakhtakor are in the first position now and they are a strong team. We have more games and all will be clear in the last matches,” he said.
“We are playing after a gap of three or four days, so it is not easy to have good form always. Our target is to qualify for the next round of the AFC Champions League — we will give a battle for it.
“We reached the semi-finals last season. Our first aim is to get through the group stage successfully, then we will see.
“We have studied our opponents well. They have a very good player, No 10 [Jamshid Iskanderov] plays very well. Pakhtakor won over Naft and took a point in Riyadh [against Al Shabab]. It shows Pakhtakor is a good team.”
Pakhtakor coach Samvel Babayan hopes to get his team back to winning ways after a disappointing run domestically.
“We didn’t win our last three matches in the local league, but all games are different in football,” he said. “We come to the pitch to win always. Those matches were very good experience for us — we saw our mistakes. Our aim is to go forward now.
“We have our tactical plans for each match. Sometimes, I will give chance to some players, next time to other players. Nine points may be enough to qualify to the round of 16, but right now we are not thinking about it.”
