Omar Abdulrahman, the Al Ain playmaker, is wary of a wounded Al Ittihad in Tuesday’s return leg of the Asian Champions League quarter-final.
The UAE international played an integral role in the initial encounter against the Saudi Arabia club last week, assisting Asamoah Gyan for the second goal in what turned out to be a comprehensive 2-0 victory for the hosts.
Al Ain must now complete the assignment at the King Adulaziz Sport City in Mecca, in a match that will be played behind closed doors following sanctions placed against Ittihad by the Asian Football Confederation.
Read more: Al Ain are taking care of business in Asian Champions League
However, although Al Ain clearly hold an advantage, Abdulrahman warned his side against complacency, especially with Ittihad, two-time Asian champions, intent on revenge for the Garden City defeat.
“Ittihad are a great team and have the same ambitions that we have to reach the semi-finals, which means they will double their efforts to show their best on the pitch to compensate for their loss in the first leg at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium,” Abdulrahman said.
“We are well aware of what we need to do to qualify. The match requires considerable concentration throughout the whole game. We all have the desire and ambition to achieve a strong result for our management and all UAE football fans.”
In the first leg, Abdulrahman was clearly identified by Ittihad as Al Ain’s key creative force, as he was subjected to some particularly physical treatment from the Saudi side. He says Zlatko Dalic, the Al Ain coach, told him to expect it, although Abdulrahman did react midway through the first half and was promptly booked.
The midfielder is confident, though, that he can avoid collecting another yellow card, which would rule him out of the semi-final should Al Ain progress. Instead, he is concentrated solely on guiding the 2003 champions into the last four for the first time in nine years.
“We played the last game under a lot of pressure to win and get a result in front of our own fans, and coming at the beginning of the season it was the most important challenge for the team,” he said.
“But certainly, we have to focus more in the next stage so that we can achieve our goals both on the continent and domestically.”
Khalid Al Koroni says Al Ittihad in ‘perfect’ preparation
Al Ain have no intentions of resting on their laurels in Tuesday’s second leg of their Asian Champions League quarter-final against Al Ittihad, with coach Zlatko Dalic insisting his side will seek a goal to put the tie beyond their Saudi Arabian opponents.
The Garden City club go into the match at King Abdulaziz Sport City well placed to progress to the last four for the first time since 2005, following last week’s 2-0 victory at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium.
However, despite the advantage, Al Ain have vowed not to simply protect their lead as the clean sheet at home means, should they score in Mecca, Ittihad would require four goals to go through.
“We finished the first leg with a positive result and we will try our best to have another impressive performance tomorrow,” Dalic said.
“We showed a good attacking display in the first leg and we will try to score to strengthen our chance to advance to the semi-finals.”
Al Ain, the 2003 champions, faced Ittihad at the same venue during the group stages in March, losing 2-1.
They maintain that result has little bearing on this latest encounter, though, especially as the match will take place behind closed doors after crowd trouble marred Ittihad’s last-16 tie.
“Our team is ready for the match,” Dalic said. “We know how important Al Ittihad’s fans are for their team, but what I care for most is my team and our preparations to have good match. I have confidence the players will have another good performance tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, Ittihad coach Khalid Al Koroni believes his side are still superior to Al Ain, irrespective of last week’s defeat.
“Al Ain are a good team, but they won the first leg because we made mistakes and they couldn’t score in the first half,” he said.
“We have prepared the team perfectly for the match and I have a lot of trust that we can make a good comeback.”
jmcauley@thenational.ae
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