Dubai: A depleted Al Ahli will be looking to cull full points, and with it another year in the knockout stages, when they host Uzbekistan’s Lokmotiv in their final Group A encounter of the AFC Champions League, on Tuesday. Kick-off will be at 7.50pm at the Rashid Stadium.
After five games, Al Ahli and Iran’s Esteghlal are tied at the top of Group A with eight points apiece, followed by Saudi Arabia’s Al Taawoun and PFC Lokomotiv of Uzbekistan with five points each.
All four teams are in with a realistic chance of making it through to the knockouts, but the reality is that only this week’s winners will be in a position to do so. Al Ahli — who lost 0-2 away to their Uzbek opponents in February — need either a win or a draw to keep their position at the top of the group. In case of a draw, both teams will advance leaving the second match between Al Taawoun and Esteghlal with very little significance.
“The players are tired in the first place, and the final matches of the Arabian Gulf League (AGL) have not exactly helped,” Cosmin Olaroiu told media after last week’s 1-1 league draw against Kalba.
“But this is the situation with the team and our fixtures and there is very little we can do about this other than just rest and recover for this important encounter against the team from Uzbekistan,” he added.
Last week’s results in the AGL may have a significant impact on the top four in the fray for the UAE quota of three automatic spots in next year’s AFC Champions League. As league champions, Al Jazira have already assured themselves of a slot, leaving the next three — Al Wasl (54), Al Ahli (53) and Al Ain (52) — to fight it out among themselves for the remaining two.
“Right now our focus is to have a playing eleven who can be on the pitch so that we can guarantee ourselves of a place in the Champions League knockout,” Olaroiu said.
“There is only so much that a coach can ask from his players. In all this, we’ve got to deal with injuries, illnesses to players and suspensions while making sure we have our best players on the pitch,” he added.
Missing Tuesday’s crucial match will be star striker Makhete Diop and possibly Ahmad Khalil, who limped out after being substituted last week, leaving an additional burden on Brazilian playmaker Everton Ribeiro. And last week’s 1-1 away draw against Kalba didn’t help either as Al Wasl displaced last year’s champions in second place in the AGL.
Meanwhile, the Uzbek team was scheduled to land in Dubai late on Sunday. A team coordinator from Al Ahli said that the team would have a light training session at the Rashid Stadium on Monday evening after the media conferences.
