Abu Dhabi: Al Ain winger Danilo Asprilla, who scored the crucial away goal in his side’s 2-1 first leg defeat to Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, is confident that the inaugural AFC Asian Champions League winners will be able to script a turnaround in the second leg at home.
The Colombian had put Al Ain in the lead in the 63rd minute but a brace from Jeonbuk’s Brazilian star Leonardo spoiled the party.
“The truth is we’re not happy about the result but an away goal does help us a lot and is very important. It was a difficult game, I thought we played well, but unfortunately things didn’t go our way,” said the 27-year-old, who has so far scored four goals in the tournament.
Al Ain now not only face a must-win situation but also have to consider other permutation and combination. The purple brigade will be champions if they win 1-0 or more but in case they concede a goal and win 2-1 the match will be forced into extra-time. But having concede a goal then they will have to win by 3-1 to clinch the title on aggregate.
“Once the game had kicked off, I saw that both sides were pretty even and well matched,” said Asprilla adding that, Jeonbuk did nothing ‘overly impressive, resorting on long balls’ a lot.
“We did everything we needed to and performed very well on the pitch, we were just unlucky to concede the two goals.”
Jeonbuk’s record away from home though this tournament hasn’t be that great with just a single victory.
“We’ve seen that away from home they haven’t had good results, and it was difficult to play our game today,” added Asprilla, who felt that the team will be able to show their best performance on home turf.
“On our own pitch, at home, we can play our game — our beautiful football — and we have confidence we can get the result we want.
“I believe myself and my teammates that we can get the win at home and can lift the AFC Asian Champions League title.”
Meanwhile, the star of the evening with two-goal, Brazilian Leonardo speaking about his side’s win said: “The coach told me before the game to try and cut inside and shoot as much as possible.”
The winger, who is currently second in the tournament’s scoring list with 10 goals, recalling the equaliser he scored to get his side back into the contest said, “When the ball came to me it was a bit behind but I managed to get it under control. I was closed down one-on-one by the full-back but I cut inside him.
“Another defender tried to close me down but I evaded him and struck the ball really well. It was really important at that moment to level the scores.”
Leonardo revealed that he expected the contest to be tough but was braced for the occasion. “I expected the match to be hard and Al Ain put in a really good performance. At half-time, all the players talked with each other — we said we needed to concentrate and be more organised.
“All the Al Ain players prepared well against me but, despite this, I was willing to play intelligently. Depending on how they played I chose to dribble or shoot,” said Leonardo, who thanked Jeonbuk’s supporters for turning up in full force.
“The fans were incredible and I feel quite emotional to experience this final with 40,000 people who came out on a cold night to support us.
“I hope that some will come to Al Ain too, to hopefully celebrate victory with us and come back with the championship.”
