Abu Dhabi // Asamoah Gyan and Omar Abdulrahman are back in the Al Ain line-up, but Miroslav Stoch will sit out the home match on Tuesday against Pakhtakor of Uzbekistan in the Asian Champions League.
Stoch received a four-match ban from the Asian Football Confederation following an incident with South Korean referee Kim Jong-hyeok in the 1-0 away win over the Uzbek club in Tashkent on March 18.
Al Ain coach Zlatko Dalic played down Stoch’s absence as a “minor setback” but remained encouraged as two of his key players are back tonight at the Hazza bin Zayed stadium.
“There are some problems, as we have one of the key players suspended and that’s not unusual in football,” Dalic said of the Slovakian winger’s absence.
“We still have a strong line-up with Gyan and Omar back, and the confidence of winning against Pakhtakor away. This group is wide open and we expect a very tough game for sure.
“All four teams in this group can still progress to the next round.
“And for us, three points can put us in a good position and that’s what we would be looking for from this game.”
The coach emphasised the Al Ain fans as the team’s driving force and urged them to come in numbers to support them on the night.
“These are the kind of matches for which we need our fans to be behind us,” Dalic said.
“The Al Ain fans have been our biggest motivation, and they have been absolutely wonderful all through the season.”
Al Ain are the only team undefeated in Group B, with a win and two draws. Pakhtakor and Naft Tehran, who play Al Shabab of Saudi Arabia, are joint-second on four points.
Samual Babayan, the Pakhtakor coach, said his side were still smarting over their home loss to Al Ain.
“We suffered an unexpected loss in front of our fans and we have come here with the intention of making up for it,” he said.
“That game was within our power to win, but we were unlucky on that night. So we want to put that right by winning the three points.”
apassela@thenational.ae
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