Abu Dhabi: Al Ain will be looking to book their place in the 2018 AFC Champions League group stages when they take on Bahrain’s Malkiya in a play-off at Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium on Tuesday. The action starts at 6.15pm.

A forgettable fourth-place finish last season in the Arabian Gulf League (AGL) had all but ended Al Ain’s chances of taking part in the showpiece event. However, the team benefited from Shabab Al Ahli Dubai’s failure to obtain the AFC licence and took their place in the play-offs.

Al Ain come in to the contest at the back of a 1-1 draw against Shabab Al Ahli Dubai in the AGL where they are at the top of the table with a one-point edge over Al Wasl.

Al Ain star Omar Abdul Rahman will be looking to redeem himself after a disappointing performance in the Gulf Cup in Kuwait — where he missed two penalties in the final to hand the title to Oman.

The playmaker was also suspended for four matches and fined Dh50,000 by the UAE Football Association for leaving the team hotel at night for two hours on the eve of the final against Oman.

As a result, Abdul Rahman missed out on the recent league fixtures and it will be interesting to see what sort of form and mental mindset the key midfielder is in going into this crunch fixture.

“For the first time this season, I’m a bit worried,” said Al Ain coach Zoran Mamic, who admitted his side have had less-than-ideal planning and preparation ahead of the game. “This is a game for the qualification to the Champions League group stage. Our preparation for this game was not optimal because of the result of the last season. We didn’t deserve to be here but only made through due to circumstances.

“All are saying Al Ain are favourite in this game but in football anything is possible, so we will have to be very, very cautious. We will start with the best possible team and try our best to beat this team.”

Mamic confirmed that he has a full squad at his disposal including Abdul Rahman for the crucial match.

Bahrain’s Malkiya are a team on the rise. They created a huge stir in the Bahraini league by clinching their first ever domestic trophy in 2016-17.

Coming from a tiny village of Malkiya in the west of Bahrain, the team had been over the years, fighting relegation battles but coach Ahmed Al Dakheel has clearly transformed the side into a force. He first led them to a third-place finish in the 2015-16 season before going two steps further last season.

They are definitely expected to play out of their skin to make this historic AFC Champions League play-off opportunity count. Keep a close watch on 29-year-old Isss Al Berri, the home-grown attacking midfielder who scored seven goals in 18 matches in their title winning performance last season.

“It’s a young team and we have the ambition,” said a confident coach Al Dakheel. “Our performance has been going up. We won the local league with the same group of players and we are confident we can go out and fight against The Boss of UAE. We know each other very well. This is a one-chance match for us and the boys are keen to make their fans happy.”