For Cosmin Olaroiu, Al Ahli’s two — legged Asian Champions League quarter-final could not have gone much better.
A 1-0 victory away at Naft Tehran; a one-goal half-time lead at the Rashid Stadium in the second leg on Wednesday that forced their Iranian opponents to open up and attack, and a penalty scored by captain Ahmed Khalil that sealed the contest two minutes into the second half.
It is unlikely the semi-final against his former club, Al Hilal, will go quite as smoothly for the Romanian.
Olaroiu has already described the Saudi Arabia champions and last year’s finalists as the “best team in Asia” and will know exactly what kind of atmosphere awaits his players at the 62,000-capacity King Fahd International Stadium on September 29.
History is against Al Ahli. Since Al Ain won the competition in 2003 and finished runners up two years later, no Emirati club has reached the final of Asia's premier club competition.
Indeed, only Al Ain have managed to reach the last four, last season, where they were humbled by Hilal. The first leg was the perfect example of what can go wrong if your tactics are not spot on.
Al Ain had travelled to Riyadh full of confidence having overcome another Saudi Arabian team, Al Ittihad, 5-1 on aggregate in the quarter-final. However, a poor defensive performance saw Zlatko Dalic’s men lose 3-0 thanks to two goals from Nasser Al Shamrani and a strike from Thiago Neves. The result rendered the second leg, which Al Ain struggled to win 2-1 after Asamoah Gyan was sent off, an irrelevance.
Olaroiu will have to contend with the return of Al Shamrani, who scored 10 goals in last year’s competition.
The Asian Footballer of the Year has played only once in this year’s Champions League due to suspension – he scored in the 2-0 group win over Foolad of Iran – but will be back for the semi-finals having sat on the bench in the quarter-final second leg draw with Lekhwiya.
A clean sheet in Riyadh, and a second leg in front of a buzzing, expectant crowd at Rashid Stadium on October 20 will be the target for Al Ahli.
Their excellent start to the season gives hope that this is achievable. The front line of Rodrigo Lima, Everton Ribiero and Emirati duo Ahmed Khalil and Ismail Al Hammadi have all been on top of their game.
The team are unbeaten so far this season, with the two victories against Naft Tehran; an 8-1 thrashing of Fujairah in the Arabian Gulf League opener; and a win and a draw in their Arabian Gulf Cup matches. Olaroiu's side have the form and confidence to take down the "the best team in Asia".
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