Al-Ahly enters the confrontation with a confident presence after winning its past four matches, looking forward to a fifth victory, the first over Al-Ain, as it previously tied with them twice and lost twice.
German coach Matthias Jassel, Al-Ahly coach, said in press statements after the Al-Fayhaa match in the league, “I am certainly proud of the levels my team showed.” We will continue to work to be in the lead position and move on to competing for the title.”
Al-Ahly will miss its defender, Rayan Hamed, as he suffers from a ruptured foot joint, while Al-Ain’s Portuguese defender, Fabio Cardoso, will leave the Asian team after suffering a hamstring injury.
Al Ain has not tasted victory since the start of the tournament, as it was subjected to a terrible defeat against Al Nassr Saudi Arabia by five to one in the last round, and it had lost 4-5 to Al Hilal as well.
But the Emirati team only lost to Saudi teams 4 times in 22 matches at home, twice against Al-Hilal and once against Al-Nasr and Al-Shabab.
The new Portuguese coach, Leonadro Jardim, hopes to correct his team’s continental path, similar to what he did locally when he launched his mission by defeating Al-Orouba 4-2 in the league, which was the first after a loss and a draw.
Jardim admitted that his team “needs a lot of work in the coming period to provide a better performance,” expressing his happiness “with the players’ desire to improve, achieve victory, and regain confidence.”
– Al-Hilal to continue to lead –
Al Hilal suffered a surprise defeat against Al Khaleej 2-3 on Saturday in the league, which led to the unbeaten streak being halted at the 57th and 17th match during the current season.
Al Hilal is looking forward to compensating for this loss by winning the Al Sadd match, especially as it is armed with history in direct confrontations, as it won 8 matches compared to 3 for the Qatari team, in addition to drawing three times.
The confrontation will witness the absence of Brazilian Al Hilal duo Malcolm de Oliveira and Portuguese Ruben Neves due to injury.
Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus, Al Hilal coach, said in a press conference after the Gulf match, “It is expected that the unbeaten streak will be broken.” There is fatigue that caused this result after returning from the international break.”
He continued, “We are talking about a team that has not known the taste of defeat in 56 matches. I know what happened during the match, and I was expecting a scenario like this. We will not look for negative details.”
The Portuguese continued, “We, as a big team, want to compete in all competitions, and we must deal with such crises.”
Al-Sadd, the fourth club that has not lost in its four matches in the tournament, is seeking to rise to third place if Al-Nassr of Saudi Arabia falters against Al-Gharafa of Qatar and reduce the gap with Al-Hilal and Al-Ahly.
The Qatari team defeated Al Hilal 4-2 in their last confrontation in the second leg of the AFC Champions League semi-final in 2019, but did not qualify because they lost 1-4 in the first leg.
– Victory without Talisca –
Al-Nasr aims to lead if its competitors falter, when it faces Al-Gharafa in Doha.
But the Saudi team enters the match without its Brazilian star Anderson Talisca due to injury, as well as Spanish defender Aymeric Laporte, in addition to Sami Al-Naji.
Despite the strong start of the Italian Stefano Pioli in leading the club and achieving seven consecutive victories, the results declined and the team achieved only two victories in the last six matches, and lost its last match to Al-Qadisiyah in the league last Friday.
Al-Nasr had bid farewell to the King’s Cup competitions at the price of the final at the hands of Al-Taawoun, in Pioli’s first local loss since he took over the job as a successor to Portuguese Luis Castro.
The former Milan coach justified the loss to Al-Qadisiyah by the players’ mistakes in the match.
He said, “The absence of Talisca was influential, and we are currently working to solve the problems that exist in the team, and there is no reason for the level to fluctuate.”
Al-Nasr met Qatari teams on 17 occasions, winning 7 matches, most of which were against Al-Sadd, while drawing 5 times and losing 5 other matches.
This will be the second match that Portuguese top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo plays against Qatari teams, as he scored two goals against Al-Duhail.
Also on Monday, Iran’s Esteghlal Tehran will play against Uzbekistan’s Pakhtakor, and Qatar’s Al Rayyan will play against Iran’s Persepolis, while Iraq’s Al-Shorta will play against Al-Wasl of the UAE on Tuesday.
Edited by le360 sport
On 11/25/2024 at 08:00, updated on 11/25/2024 at 08:00
