Make or break for Luis Milla of Al Jazira

Dubai: Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini won’t be the only coach of an Abu Dhabi-backed club left sweating over the result of a cup final this week.

For Al Jazira’s Luis Milla, Tuesday’s Etisalat Cup final against Ajman represents as decisive a turning point as City’s 1-0 FA Cup final loss to Wigan last Saturday.

Both City and Al Jazira are owned by Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs.

Since taking over from Paulo Bonamigo at the end of February, former Spain Olympic coach Milla has won just four of his 16 matches.

Last year’s President’s Cup winners – who before that won the league and cup double – are now out of this season’s Asian Champions League and the President’s Cup, and sit fourth in the Etisalat Pro-League with two games to play.

Milla acknowledged that clinching this season’s last chance of silverware was imperative.

When asked if the final was “make or break” for him, he replied: “We are working on the short term to prepare for Tuesday’s game. But we are also working medium to long term.

“We know that we are a big team and a good club where we have to do our best in the competitions, and now we have three games including Tuesday’s final, but also two important league games, and we want to finish in the best way possible.”

Of three of his four wins in charge occurring in the last five matches, Milla added: “If there is a change of coach it’s because something is not right. We have been here two and a half months and we’ve been working hard to put our concept in place. We’ve had the impression from the beginning that the team is growing and understanding our ideas. In the last five games we’ve improved a lot.”

Meanwhile, Ajman coach Abdul Wahab Abdul Qader laughed off suggestions that his team had revenge in mind for their 2-0 loss to Al Jazira in the 2010 final.

“A lot of things have changed for both sides since then,” said Abdul Qader. “Last time, after that final we were relegated. But now we have just beaten Al Nasr and Al Wahda in the last two [league] games. So we hope we can do our best in the final.

“We really deserve to reach the final and we know and respect Al Jazira a lot but we’ll do our best to win,” he added.

Like City slayers Wigan – who hadn’t picked up a major title in their 81-year history before Saturday – Ajman are firm underdogs. Their last and only top honour, with the exception of the now defunct Federation Cup, which they won in 2011, was the 1984 President’s Cup, when they stunned Al Nasr 1-0.

And like City, another such upset for Al Jazira could see Milla joining Mancini in looking for new employment.