Palmeiras manager Abel Ferreira has said that he does not see their second meeting with Egyptian side Al Ahly in 12 months as a revenge match.
Ahly edged out the Brazilian outfit 3-2 in a penalty shoot-out following a goalless third-place play-off in the Fifa Club World Cup 12 months ago in Doha.
Ahly overcame Mexico’s Monterrey on Saturday to earn a semi-final meeting with Palmeiras once again in the competition, this time at Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
“We don’t consider this game as a retaliation match but a semi-final game that will give the winning team a place in the final of the Fifa Club World Cup,” the Portuguese said.
Ahly will strengthen their team that beat Monterrey when six of their players arrive back from Africa Cup of Nations duty with Egypt.
But manager Pitso Mosimane has admitted there will be some tired legs among those who took part in the exhausting run to the final in Cameroon where the Pharaohs lost to Senegal on penalties on Sunday.
“If Ahly beat Monterrey when all of you said they didn’t have their full side, that’s a sign of a warning for us,” Ferreira said.
“Ahly has presented the quality they represent. They won by one goal that day but it could have been more, in my opinion, and that clearly shows the quality of this team.”
Ferreira insisted his side was preparing to play against a very well-organised side. “Football has a lot to do with the organisation and the desire,” he added. “We saw a very well-organised team against Monterrey. Ahly knows very well what they do between the four lines and they compete to win.
“That’s what I saw [on Saturday]. We are paying a lot of attention and we are very alert because the organisation of this team has gone on record to say ‘we have one-and-a-half years of experience together’ therefore we need to have patience when we meet this kind of opponent.
“We want to be safe, and wait for the right time and the right moment … to do what we have been doing during practice.
“Our focus is to be calm, to be solid, effective and greatly focused on the individual and collective tasks. If we do that, we’ll be close to winning the match.
“When you are attacking you have to prepare the defence and that’s going to be the secret for us.
“That’s only one way to score. We are going to use every single moment when we are in a position to attack and also prepare the defence at the same time. We want to present a good game against a strong opponent.”
