Abu Dhabi: Al Jazira team left on Sunday for Riyadh to face Saudi Arabian club Al Shabab in their AFC Champions League Group A tie on Tuesday.
Al Jazira and Al Shabab share the leadership of the group with three points each after beating Al Rayyan of Qatar and Iran’s Esteghlal, respectively, in the first week of competition.
Moroccan Abdul Aziz Barrada and Ecuador’s Felipe Caicedo have both rejoined the squad from national duty while Al Jazira’s head coach Walter Zenga and team’s manager Mohammad Salem Al Enazy have left for Riyadh two days earlier to watch the Al Shabab vs Al Nasr encounter in the Saudi Cup competition.
“We expect that Al Shabab will field all their key players in the Cup match and it will help us to study the team in details,” Zenga said before travelling to the Saudi capital.
“We have a number of international players who have missed some of the training sessions with the team in the past few days but it is a good sign that we have this large number of players who play for their countries which means they are the best.
“It is vital to win the match against Al Shabab because it will help us emerge as sole leaders of the group. We are optimistic about our chances despite having great respect for the other teams in the group and I do believe that our players can go further in the competition.” Zenga added.
Youngsters Ahmad Rabie and Ahmad Al Attass have been released from the UAE youth team’s Dubai camp to join Al Jazira in the Asian club competition. Both players have played a major role in leading their team to the semi-finals of the League Cup last week beating their traditional rivals Al Wahda in the last group match.
The match will kick off at 9:25pm (UAE) at King Fahad Stadium in Riyadh and will be broadcast by Bein Sports (formerly Al Jazira Sports Channel).
