ABU DHABI // Leonardo, the Brazilian winger who played a key role in South Korean side Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors’ success in the Asian Champions League last year, has been left out of Al Jazira’s squad for the 2017 tournament.
“He was the best player in the ACL last year but I took him out of the list because he just finished a full competition in Korea,” Jazira manager Henk ten Cate said ahead of their Group B opener away against Qatari club Lekhwiya on Monday night.
“Leonardo arrived after a tough competition [in Korea] and you could see he’s close to breaking down physically. This is what we don’t want to happen.”
Ten Cate’s priority was the domestic Arabian Gulf League which they lead by nine points with seven games left, but the Dutchman insisted they will be looking to winning every competition they compete in.
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“As a team, we want to take what comes first to us, and it’s the AGL that’s closer to us than the ACL, and that’s the team’s priority,” he said.
“This is why we need Leonardo for the domestic league. He’s valuable for us for our AGL campaign.”
Jazira have included the Brazilian centre-back Joao Carlos in place of Leonardo as part of their four foreigners in the squad.
“This is the first game which always difficult because we don’t know so much about the teams besides watching them on television,” Ten Cate said. “Lekhwiya is the strongest team in the group so it’s a huge challenge for us.
“We are ready but unfortunately we are not complete as we don’t have some players due to injuries.”
A couple of the key players to miss the game on Monday night are midfielder Park Jong-woo and Khalfan Mubarak.
Lekhwiya are in their sixth successive ACL campaign and will be desperate to improve on from their last home game in the continental competition when they lost 4-0 to compatriots El Jaish in the 2016 round of 16.
apassela@thenational.ae
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