DUBAI // New signing Leonardo says he has more to offer Al Jazira after his debut on Friday helped lift the club to the top of the Arabian Gulf League.
The Brazilian, who joined this month shortly after winning the 2016 Asian Champions League with South Korea’s Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, set up one goal and scored the winner in Jazira’s 3-2 victory at Al Wasl. Both goals were testament to Leonardo’s set-piece expertise, with the first an assist for Saif Khalfan and the second a curling free-kick that sealed the points.
The result against the division’s third-placed team moved Jazira to the summit, one point above Al Ain after 14 rounds.
Those two sides meet in a potentially defining clash on January 23, in the rescheduled fixture from Round 8.
Given his instant impact, Leonardo promises to be integral to Jazira’s chances of lifting a second UAE championship — their only success was the 2010/11 season — with the forward encouraged by the fact he has settled incredibly quickly in the capital.
Leonardo had trained for only one week before the Wasl match, while he spent the weeks before his transfer on holiday with his family. However, he credited his swift assimilation to his new colleagues.
Asked if his debut was better than he could have expected, Leonardo said: “Of course, after one week you have one assist, one goal and the team win? This is one very good day for me.
“I feel very good. Thank you to God, first, because he gave me power, and my family, my agents, the fans, the coaching staff and the players. Because I’m now one week in Al Jazira but everyone has made me feel like I’ve been here one or two years.
“[Compatriots] Ailton, Joao Carlos, and all the Emirati players, have helped me so much. It’s like one family. Thanks to everybody. I’ll try to continue like this to help Al Jazira more to be at the top.”
Leonardo is seeking to replicate the form shown in his final few months at Jeonbuk, when he played a crucial role in the South Korean’s march to the Champions League title.
With 10 goals, including two in the first leg of the final against Al Ain, Leonardo finished as the tournament’s second-top scorer.
“Before I was playing at the Fifa Club World Cup, then I went with my family to the USA for a holiday and I didn’t train for three weeks,” he said.
“I came back and have trained just one week here with the players and with the team.
“Every day I try to be better, to get my condition back, to take my condition back to be the same player I was when I was with Jeonbuk: the confidence, the power, to help the club more.”
jmcauley@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
