Dubai: Al Ahli coach Cosmin Olaroiu praised Ahmad Khalil after his last-gasp double sent The Red Knights through to the last 16 of the Asian Champions League with a 3-2 win over Tractor Sazi on Tuesday.
The Emirati striker has struggled to fill in for Grafite since the Brazilian left for Qatar’s Al Sadd in January, but Olaoroiu’s faith in the misfiring frontman was repaid tenfold against the Iranians.
Al Ahli had to beat Tractor Sazi and hope that Uzbekistan’s Nasaf Qarshi lost or at least drew at home to Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli Jeddah in a simultaneously-played final group game.
Luckily, the Saudis held Nasaf to a goalless draw and Al Ahli Dubai qualified second behind their Jeddah namesakes by virtue of a better head-to-head record against the Uzbeks.
Everton Ribeiro cancelled out Mehrdad Bayrami’s 20th minute opener before the hour and Ahmad Khalil nodded in the first of his two headers on 78 minutes to level Saman Narimanjahan’s 66th minute effort as Al Ahli twice came from behind. Khalil headed the winner on 88th minute to complete the unlikeliest of comebacks.
“After recent performances, I sat Ahmad down and showed him some things that I hope would help motivate him and give him more confidence and I hope that in the next games he will be better,” said Olaroiu.
“I had to trust him today and I told my staff members in a prematch meeting that today would be the day of Ahmad Khalil.
“At the beginning of the season, we set our targets and the most important thing was to qualify from our Champions League group for the first time in our history. Today, we accomplished that and now we look forward to passing the next stage.”
Al Ahli could now face Al Ain in the round-of-16 depending on the result of Al Ain’s final group round fixture at home to Naft Tehran late on Wednesday. Olaroiu, however, sounded unfazed by the prospect of facing his old club.
“Any game between Al Ahli and Al Ain is a big one,” he said. “If it happens, at least you can guarantee that a UAE club will make it through to the quarter finals. It’s also a good thing because we won’t have to travel so far, otherwise we’d arrive back tired for our President’s Cup games.”
The President’s Cup recommences with the third round on May 14. The quarter-finals will be played on May 23 and semi-finals on May 30 before the final on June 3. The two legs of the Asian Champions League Round-of-16 matches are in between, scheduled on May 20 and May 27.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, Al Nasr drew 1-1 at home with Al Shabab in the semi-finals of the GCC Champions League after Ebrahima Toure cancelled out Henrique Luvannor’s early opener after the half-hour. The second leg of this semi-final will be played on May 19 at Al Shabab.
