Abu Dhabi: Al Ain coach Zlatko Dalic was understandably on cloud nine after the AFC Champions League winners fought their way into the semi-finals of the continental club championship with a 1-0 aggregate win over Lokomotiv Tashkent on Tuesday.
“I’d like to congratulate my team for the victory. We played fantastic in this game. Lokomotiv played very well tonight, but we were stronger than our opponent,” said an elated Dalic, whose team had to win the contest in order to proceed into the next round.
The big plus for the coach was his new signing, Brazilian Caio from J. League side Kashima Antlers, coming to the party when it mattered most. It was his solitary striker that earned Al Ain a 1-0 aggregate win over the Uzbek champions, who had not lost in 27 outings in their own fortress till then.
“Our tactical style gave us this victory and sometimes we were lucky. My team tried to keep the result after we scored, it depended on us and we were able to do it. I have never lost in Uzbekistan and I’m happy to continue this tradition,” revealed the Croatian, whose side was in a similar spot of bother in the round of 16 after being held at home in the first leg by Iraq’s Zobahan.
Dalic hailed that his players not only rose to the occasion but also followed his instructions to the point.
“We had a draw in our home game in the Round of 16 too,” he said of the meeting with Iran’s Zobahan in May. Then we beat our opponent in the away match. We did it once more at this stage, which means my players followed all of my instructions well,” said Dalic, whose side won the inaugural AFC Champions League in 2003 and last made a finals appearance in 2005, when they lost over two legs against Saudi Arabia’s Al Ittihad.
“We are not in a good situation now because we haven’t started our local championship, but I hope the team will be better in the semi-finals. We were under some pressure in the first match because it was the first game of the season for us,” added Dalic, whose team will meet either compatriots Al Nasr or Qatar’s El Jaish for a place in the final.
Lokomotiv coach Andrey Miklyayev felt that his side lost out due to poor finishing.
“I want to congratulate our opponents for qualifying for the semi-final stage. The goal changed the game. We had a lot of chances but it was not our day. We couldn’t use them,” said Miklyayev, adding that the absence of key players also hurt them dearly.
“We went forward with the whole team in the final minutes. It was difficult to play against such a strong team. Oleg Zoteev had a little injury and I didn’t want to field him from the start. Stepanovic was also injured, so we had some difficulties. If you have an experienced striker in your team it is always useful. Both teams tried to pay good football but tonight Al Ain were lucky,” added Miklyayev.
