Dubai: Al Ahli coach Cosmin Olaroiu remains hopeful the Red Knights can clear the final hurdle and make it to the knockout stages of the AFC Asian Champions League in two weeks’ time.
Al Ahli went down 2-1 to their namesakes from Saudi Arabia in their penultimate Group D encounter in Jeddah late on Tuesday, leaving them two points adrift of second-placed Nasaf of Uzbekistan ahead of the last round of fixtures.
On Tuesday, the Dubai team were undone by a mistake by referee Abdullah Al Baloushi, who flashed a second yellow card and subsequent red to Majid Hassan a minute after the hour even though the offence was by teammate Everton Ribeiro.
That proved to be the turning point of the match, as the Saudi side went on to cancel out Ribeiro’s opening goal through Mohannad Aseri’s equaliser in the 78th minute and then secure full points through Bruno Cesar’s injury-time effort.
The win ensured the hosts booked their place in the knockout stages with a game in hand, while the Red Knights will have to beat bottom-placed Tractor Sazi Tabriz of Iran in Dubai on May 5 and hope their namesakes do them a favour in Qarshi.
“There were two sides of the match. The first one was before the red card while the second was after we played with 10 men, because things changed with the red card and our opponents took advantage as we had to push back a bit. We had to make some changes and that affected us as they have good bench strength,” Olaroiu told media at the post-match conference.
“We still have one more match at home against Tractor Sazi and that gives us one last chance to try and qualify for the knockout stages for the first time in the history of the club.
“Our opponents are a good side and they deserved to qualify from the group, but we will be holding on to our chances until the end.”
The hosts’ coach Christian Gross, the former Tottenham manager, said: “I’m happy with the result as the players showed great fighting spirit and great determination to make a good comeback and win the match.
“Our opponents put on a defensive performance in the first half and they closed all the gaps, which denied us from scoring. But things changed in the second half and we managed to make a good comeback and get the three points.”
Elsewhere on Tuesday, Al Nasr reached the GCC Champions League semi-finals after a penalty shoot-out victory over Al Taawon of Saudi Arabia. The sides were locked at 1-1 at the end of regular play, but the Dubai hosts held their nerve to win the shoot-out 4-2.
