Dubai: Al Ahli are confident they can expose the chinks in the Guangzhou Evergrande armour as they target history in their first-ever AFC Champions League final on Saturday.
The Dubai club looked to be headed for an early exit again, managing only two points from their first three group games.
But they got their act together and crucial wins against Uzbek side Nasaf and Iran’s Tractorsazi Tabriz saw them squeeze into the last 16 where they beat local rivals Al Ain on the away goals rule.
After a straightforward win over Naft Tehran in the quarter-finals, they faced a tough semi-final against Al Hilal and looked set to bow out when the Saudi club overturned a 3-1 deficit during the second leg to take the lead on away goals.
But deep into stoppage time, Kwon Kyung-won netted a dramatic late winner to send Al Ahli into the final, 4-3 on aggregate. Al Hilal tried their best to overturn the result appealing to the AFC on two occasions and finally moving the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne.
All three appeals have since been rejected as the Red Knights target their own bit of history after never having advanced to the knock-out stages in all five previous attempts.
“The most important moment for us was to be in the final and we are happy to be where we are now. It really doesn’t matter whether we play at home first and away later or the other way around. At this stage of the competition, it will be a difficult match any way. We’ve had good result in all our away games this year as we have learnt how to cope with the pressure of playing in front of the opponent’s fans. A final is a final and it doesn’t matter where we play,” Cosmin Olaroiu told media.
“When you are in a final you can be proud. Now we have to hope that we can do much more. My job is to create a lot of positive feeling within the team and I hope we can do all we can to realise our dream and write one more page in history,” he added.
Olaroiu was proud of what the team has achieved this year as they set their eyes on becoming the first team from West Asia to win since Al Sadd in 2011. “We have arrived at the last step to the trophy and we are facing a very strong team. In my opinion they [Guangzhou] can compete with any club in Europe. They are balanced and powerful and they have won the Chinese title five times in a row. This is the most important game and we know it is going to be very difficult,” the Al Ahli coach related.
“We have our chances and we will try to get the maximum out of this home match. It is important to win and it is important to take a step forward. But we have to achieve this in a clever way. We need to be organised and intelligent throughout the 90 minutes on the field. Guangzhou also has their weak points and we hope to expose these and put them in trouble,” Olaroiu added.
“The easy way to qualify is to keep a clean sheet, especially in our home game. The match will be difficult and I will be happy to score more goals than the opponents. I hope my fighters and my partners [Al Ahli players] will write another page in history. They are players with a big dream and big hearts,” he stressed.
