Al Duhail gears up to encounter Al Shorta in AFC champions league
- 3 years ago
Al Duhail aims on gaining vital three points as they gear up to encounter Al Shorta in their opening 2021 AFC Champions League Group C match at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah on Thursday. As the group winners are only assured in advancing into the Round of 16, both will have little margin for error in a pool that also includes Iran’s Esteghlal and Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli.
Al Duhail is all ready to start their tournament off with a domestic season which saw them giving away their tag as Qatar Stars League champions, Al Sadd was crowned champions and given the title in resounding fashion. Sabri Lamouchi’s Al Duhail finished second, a whopping 13 points behind Al Sadd, and will be hoping to make an impact in the 2021 AFC Champions League after having missed out on the knockout stage last year. In their ninth successive AFC Champions League group stage, the Almoez Ali-powered Al Duhail’s previous best was making the quarter-finals in 2013, 2015 and 2018.
Lamouchi said that, “Our first goal is to advance from the group stage. We have been preparing for the last three weeks and we had a lot of good matches. Covid-19 has affected football for more than a year but now we have adapted and are ready for everything.
“The group is strong and there will be big competition. Al Ahli have good Asian experience but we want to advance from the group and to do so, we must make a good start tomorrow,” he added.
Iraq’s Al Shorta gets prepared to play in AFC Champions league with 10 points off the pace in the Iraqi Premier League, a title they won in 2019 and are defending after the last season was cancelled due to the pandemic caused by Covid-19. There was, however, cheer for them in the 2019 AFC Champions League with Al Shorta recording their first win in the tournament since it was rebranded. The win wasn’t enough to take them into the Round of 16 then and Al Shorta will be aiming to change that this time around for sure.
Al Shorta head coach Aleksandar Ilic said his team are determined to hit the ground running. Ilis said that, “It is very important to have good performances in all the matches and if we do so, then the results will eventually come. The group is difficult and our first match will be against a strong team.”
“We will try our best to prepare the players to be ready for the matches which are going to be played in a tight period. The match schedule is very heavy and this means that we should be prepared physically,” he added.
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