Dubai: Al Nasr’s Arabian Gulf League form against Al Ahli will count for nothing in Wednesday’s President’s Cup final (kick-off: 6.20pm), according to Blue Wave coach Ivan Jovanovic.
The Oud Mehta club have a good head-to-head record against their Al Ghusais rivals this season, winning 2-1 at home in December and drawing 2-2 away in April.
But form will go out the window when the two Dubai sides meet at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain, the Serbian insists.
“League and cup games are totally different, you cannot compare them,” said Jovanovic, whose side reached their first President’s Cup final in 18 years by beating Sharjah 1-0, Al Ain 1-0 and Al Shabab 4-2.
“What we did against them in the league is now of no importance.”
Al Ahli finished seventh in the league, one point behind fifth-placed Al Nasr, but the Red Knights have shown resurgent form towards the end of the season.
Cosmin Olaroiu’s side have reached their third President’s Cup final in three years by beating Kalba 2-1, Dubai 5-3 and Al Dhafra 2-0, and they are also through to the last eight of the Asian Champions League after knocking out UAE league champions Al Ain on away goals.
“Al Ahli is an excellent team with great quality and an excellent coach, we expect a very difficult and interesting game,” said Jovanovic of the Red Knights, who are joint record eight-time President’s Cup winners and defending champions.
“We know everything about Al Ahli and they know everything about us. There are no secrets between these teams. We also know very well that if we want to win, we need to have an excellent game defensively as well as offensively.
“From our side we are going to give our best and give everything to try and win the trophy.”
Al Nasr have won the President’s Cup three times but their last victory in this competition was 26 years ago.
“It will be one of the most important trophies [I’ve won] because I know how much it would mean to the club after such a long time,” added Jovanovic, who has led Al Nasr to both the 2014 GCC Champions League and 2015 Arabian Gulf League Cup titles since taking over at the Maktoum Stadium in 2013.
Al Nasr’s Australian midfielder Brett Holman agreed that the league results against Al Ahli were now insignificant, but said they were still confident.
“Our confidence isn’t from looking at the two games we played in the league, our confidence is from the journey that we’ve had so far in the President’s Cup,” he said.
“We’ve twice gone 120 minutes in this tournament [progressing after extra time against Sharjah and penalties against Al Shabab] and that just shows the sort of fighting character we have. We are full of confidence with or without our league results against them.”
