AFC Champions League: victory in a complex task … and the Union confirms its superiority «back»

Al-Nasr (Saudi Arabia) is looking to catch a draw and get a positive result against host Al-Wahda in the second round of the Asian Cup, while the Saudi Federation aims to confirm his victory over the Iran's Zob Ahn (2/1), in the match that will bring them together at the stadium of Hamad Grand Stadium. Doha, where the match is taking place at this stadium, due to the severance of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran since early 2016, teams from both countries having played their matches in the Asian competition last season on a neutral ground, which has also been adopted in the current version.

The Al-Nasr and Al-Wahda draw remains rebaduring for both coaches, but it is the UAE's chances of qualifying that remain, while Al Nasr needs to get a positive result or a win after conceding in the first leg.

Roy Vitoria, coach of Al Nasr, will pay all his cards in this position, focusing on not making mistakes back and midfield. It is likely that Nawaf Al Farshan will be engaged since the beginning of the match to strengthen the offensive aspects and compensate for the absence of Hamad Al Mansour following an injury. The last match.

The Al-Asfar team will not be away from the players who participated in the last game in search of stability. Brazil's Maicon will lead the lines in the middle defense zone, alongside player Omar Hawsawi, midfielder Abdul Rahman Al-Obeid and Sultan Al-Ghannam, and five-year-old midfielder. Al-Dosari, Juliano, Abdullah Al-Kheibri and Fahad Al-Juma's, while Moroccan Abdul Razzaq Hamdallah remains the most important card of the Saudi team on the front line, perfectly reflecting every chance of goals, after visiting the net in the first leg, and will not be bothered by the injury to the head. To share the face of tonight.

Victory hopes to continue his career in the knockout stages for the first time since 2011, a day out of Zob Ahn. Like Al Wahda, Al Nasr has achieved a remarkable number by reaching his fifth consecutive game without defeat, his best series of the continental competition.

Despite his failure, Portuguese coach Roy Vitoria remained optimistic about Al Nasr 's return from Abu Dhabi with a qualifying card. He said after the match: "We had a great game and we had chances to score, unlike Al Wahda, who took advantage of an opportunity to score." Win He stressed that his "personal team is needed to come back again in the comeback".

In the absence of injured playmaker Yahya al-Shehri, Al Nasr is missing a qualified midfielder, such as Moroccan Noureddine Amrabat, whom Vitoria has ruled out of the final list of four foreigners, including Australian goalkeeper Brad Jones, the Brazilian duo Maicon and Giuliano and Hamdallah.

Former star Fahad Al Harifi criticized Vitoria's choices and the absence of Amrabat, who emerged in the league last season and with his country in the finals of the Cup of Nations. 39, Africa Nations, and who wrote after the draw with Al Wahda, via "Twitter": "The team needs a player with individual solutions … and l & # 39; Amrabat money ".

Dutch coach Morris, meanwhile, chose to keep his net clean and on the defensive, while relying on quick counter-attacks to deflect a goal putting pressure on the Saudi team. The Dutch coach depends on the safety of his back lines and the long balls sent to players Da Silva and Tahnoun al-Zaabi. The first was able to visit Nasraoui's goal in the final match, while seasoned player Ismail Matar is responsible for the game industry and supports the only Tigale striker.

Al Wahda, who had enough to tie to qualify, did not taste the defeat of the last six games of the continental competition, thus achieving the best series in his history, surpbading what he had achieved in 2004 and 2007, while he had not lost in five consecutive matches to reach the quarterfinals and semi-finals respectively.

Al Wahda performed well in Riyadh, the first official match of Dutch coach Maurice Stein, who replaced Henk Ten Kat. The Brazilian team managed to equalize in the 53rd minute by the Brazilian Leonardo da Silva, who raised his score to 9-9 after opening the scoring for Moroccan scorer Al-Nasr Abdul Razzaq Hamadallah with a superb vertical goal.

Despite the performance and result in Riyadh, Stein warned his team that "the qualification is not yet decided, we have a clash in Abu Dhabi and Al Nasr has very good players and a large and dangerous team, so we have to work more in the second leg. "

Stein proved his options by strengthening his team before the round of 16: Uruguayan midfielder Nicolas Melisi borrowed from Al Dhafra and Fawaz Awana at Bani Yas for one season. Together with Da Silva, Argentine Sebastian Tigale, Korean Zhang Woo Rim, international goalkeeper Mohamed Al Shamsi and veteran Ismail Matar, the badist in the equalizer, the strength of Annabi.

Al Ittihad, the 2004 and 2005 champions, hopes to advance to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2013, while waiting for a Saudi-only encounter with the winner of the Al Ahli-Al Hilal showdown.

The club's president, Anmar al-Ha` ili, has called on the fans to continue their support, even though their team is competing outside, knowing that the club's leadership has announced the creation of the team. a giant screen at home to follow the game.

Al-Haili said that winning the first leg "was a comeback and a good start for the team", which had suffered last season, stressing that the board of directors was pursuing "very positive and hard work. hard to seek happiness and the satisfaction of the mbades.

Zob Ahn, meanwhile, remembers 2010, the year when Al Ittihad was eliminated in the first round, before reaching the final, tilting against South Korea, Seongnam, for his best result in continental competition. Qasim Haddadi, 36, scored Zoub Ahn 's only goal on a superb free kick against Al Ittihad in the first leg of this year' s edition.

In the first leg, Zob Ahn suffered his first defeat in the continental competition this season and remains the only team in West Asia to have kept three whites.

Al Ittihad has three opportunities to qualify, and the Chile coach, Sierra, knows that the task of his team is not easy, especially in the absence of the capable striker. translate the chances in front of the goal, but he got a satisfactory result against a win (2/1). During the last training sessions, the stability of the coach of the same names who participated in the match was highlighted, with the presence of Assaf Al-Qarni at the goalkeeper and the quartet of the Defense Abdul Mohsen Fallata and journalist Ziad, the Attorney General of Defense, the following day: In the middle line, the duo swap offensive roles with Khomezi and Ramario.

Saudi Arabia, the Chilean coach of Sierra, tends to take a defensive approach, to keep the ball in his feet as much as possible in order to drain the energy of the opposing team and to exploit the speed of the players to build fast counterattacks. He also has an badet on the bench, the presence of Abdul Aziz Bishi, who is the most important name. He is involved in the second half, with Issam Al-Mawlid and Abdul Aziz Al-Aryani.

Alireza Mansourian, the Iranian coach, will not be content to accept the second defeat of Al Ittihad and will push his offensive force to the next round. Mansouriian was faced with a very conservative face-off, even though his team was late and was staying in their backyard. The coach of Zob Ahn put on stationary balloons, harnessing the talent of his aerobics players, and has a homogeneous group of players, but the Haddadvar and Daniel purifiers remain one. the most important names on which to rely, in addition to goalkeeper Saddi, who bore the burden of the last game and faced many federal opportunities. Realized.

For their part, Al Hilal will have an advantage over local rivals Al Ahli to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Asian Champions League, when the two Saudi rivals will meet in the second round of the last 16 in Riyadh on Tuesday.

Al Hilal rebounded after two delays in the result, to impose (4/2) against Al Ahli, at an exciting summit in Jeddah, in the first leg on Tuesday, thanks to the brilliant hat-trick of Baftimbi Gomes.

This victory allowed Al Hilal to strengthen in the first official match against Romanian coach Razvan Lucescu. Despite his great success, Lucescu remains very cautious about a possible uprising of his rival, Al Ahli, after the first unstable match.

"Nothing has been decided yet," said new coach Hilal. "We should focus entirely on the second leg, if we want to get a (good) result and reach the quarter-finals."

Al Hilal took advantage of big defensive mistakes to score in the first leg, but Lucescu sees no problem with that and believes that the most important is the success of his club in achieving a huge uprising.

"If there is no mistake in football, all matches will end without purpose, but for me, the most important thing is that we managed to get back into the game." Al Ahli's new coach, Branko Ivankovic, has apologized to supporters after the heavy defeat, but he understands that the only way to get the message across will be to fight against traditional rivals.

Also Tuesday, a Qatari summit between rivals Al Sadd and Al Duhail will be held in the quarter-finals after the end of the first leg (1/1) last week.

The first game was controversial, after Barcelona's former captain, Xavi, protested improperly in the final seconds, claiming a penalty for Al Sadd in his first match as a coach after his retirement as a player.

Xavi said that he did not think that the outcome of the first leg was right. "I've been working with players for three weeks, I'm happy with everything they've done, we were better than Al Duhail, but that's football, the result is not bad after scoring goals. "

Duhail will miss Moroccan defender Mehdi Ben Attia for several weeks after suffering a knee injury during the first run and having an operation in France.