Al Duhail coach Hernan Crespo
Doha: Al Duhail SC and Al Shabab FC expect a no-holds barred contest when they face off in their AFC Champions League 2022 (West) quarter-final at the Al Thumama Stadium in Doha today.
Al Duhail advanced to the last eight tie with a hard-fought 7-6 penalty shootout win over fellow Qatar Stars League side Al Rayyan SC while Saudi Arabia’s Al Shabab had a relatively easier outing, defeating Uzbekistan’s FC Nasaf 2-0.
Al Duhail head coach Hernan Crespo said his team will be ready for everything that Al Shabab bring to the match.
“We are proud to be in the quarter-finals. We will face a great team in Al Shabab but we are very confident in our strength and our identity. I know our match against Al Rayyan went the distance but when you reach the quarter-final stage, everything is in terms of emotional rather than physical. We played 120 minutes but we have had time to recover to play this quarter-final,” said Crespo.
An area of concern was Al Duhail needed penalties to defeat Al Rayyan despite dominating the Round of 16 tie but Crespo said he wasn’t overly worried.
“We didn’t deserve for the match to be decided by penalties. We created so much but at times, we missed the final passes. I know we must be clinical but we have the players who can do it.”
“We have (Michael) Olunga, Almoez (Ali), Edmilson (Junior) and (Mohamed) Muntari. What is important is that we continue creating to have the chances to score,” said Crespo.
Al Duhail will have to be at their most potent against an Al Shabab side who have kept six clean sheets en route to the quarter-finals and head coach Vicente Moreno expects another strong performance from his team.
“This is a critical match with all the quarter-final teams equally strong. We will play a team who are playing at home. It won’t be easy but we have studied the strengths and weaknesses of Al Duhail. We will focus on ourselves and we will prepare the best we can for the match,” said Moreno.
Al Shabab will enter the tie in a rich vein of form, with the club very much in the running for the Saudi Pro League title and Moreno said the target is to maintain the momentum against Al Duhail.
“We have been at an excellent level domestically and the target is to reproduce our league form in the AFC Champions League. We are in the quarter-finals without having suffered any defeats and if we continue to play at a high level with total focus, we will be capable of winning.”
Al Hilal take on Foolad Khouzestan
Meanwhile, Foolad Khouzestan have promised another committed and gritty performance when they play Al Hilal SFC in today's second quarter-final at the Al Janoub Stadium.
Iran’s Foolad advanced to the last eight stage with a 1-0 win over Al Faisaly of Saudi Arabia while defending champions Al Hilal cruised to a 3-1 victory over UAE’s Shabab Al Ahli Dubai despite not firing on all cylinders.
Foolad will have a new head coach in charge following the resignation of Javad Nekounam with Hamidreza Rajabi to guide the side.
