Lt. General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chief of Staff of the UAE Armed Forces threw light on the success of the Al Ain club, the future of coach Bruno Metsu and the club's aspirations and dreams yesterday.

"There are two main factors behind the success of the club: firstly, the support of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and secondly, the enthusiasm of the members of the Honorary Council to achieve good results," said Sheikh Mohammed.

"I can confirm that the Al Ain Club has reliable financial resources that will guarantee the implementation of our future plans for many years," Sheikh Mohammed added. Regarding reports about coach Bruno Metsu's possible departure, Sheikh Mohammed said, "I read about this in the newspapers. I have no further information. However, I would like to stress that Metsu is the club's coach and has a contract till 2006. If any club is interested in his services then they should inform Al Ain club first."

Sheikh Mohammed then went on to praise the standard of the domestic competition saying: "this year the league was interesting and strong. I believe that Al Ain won because they were the best team in the fray. We are always planning for the future. We are now thinking of winning the first Euro-Asian Cup when we meet Spanish club Valencia at Al Ain in January next year. We are trying out new foreign professionals and we will soon announce our contracts with those selected specially as we will have to defend our Asian Champions League title," Sheikh Mohammed said.