Milla facing tough AFC Champions League test

Abu Dhabi: Spanish coach Luis Milla has the chance to win over the fans of his new team Al Jazira on Tuesday night if he leads his side to victory over Saudi Arabian outfit Al Shabab at home in the AFC Champions League.

Since taking over the reins of Al Jazira two weeks ago, he has failed to win a single match from two domestic league fixtures and one match in the continental competition.

Al Jazira are joint bottom of Group A with Al Jaish from Qatar, after they both lost their opening fixtures 3-1 to Tractorsazi from Iran and 2-0 to Al Shabab from Saudi Arabia respectively.

And Milla’s men, the winners of the UAE’s President’s Cup last season, know that beating the Saudi Premier League champions will not be an easy task.

But they certainly have the quality to do so if their best players, including the midfield duo of Ebrahim Diaky and Matias Delgado, and the strike triumvirate of Ricardo Oliveira, Fernandinho and Ali Mabkhoot, are on form.

Milla is expected to field Ali Khaseef in goal and Abdullah Moussa, Juma Abdullah, Myungmin Shin and Salem Masoud or Khalid Sabeel in defence. Khamis Esmail, Subait Khater, Diaky and Delgado should make up the midfield with Fernandinho or Mabkhoot with Oliveira in attack.

Meanwhile, Al Shabab’s coach Michel Preud’homme, the former Belgium goalkeeper, has a high-quality squad at his disposal, including Saudi internationals Omar Al Dhamdi, Nasser Al Shamrani and brothers Ahmad and Abdo Ottaif.

They also have Brazilians Fernando Menegazzo and Marcelo Camacho, Argentinian Sebastian Tagliabue and South Korean Kwak Tae-Hwi, in addition to Waleed Abdullah, the Saudi Arabia goalkeeper.

With Al Jazira out of both the two domestic major football competitions, the league and the President’s Cup, they will have to concentrate on the continental event to win silverware this season.

But a lack of form has seen them slip to fourth place in the league.