AL AIN // Zlatko Dalic has backed his Al Ain side to finish the season strongly after coming through what he described as a "very bad time".
The UAE champions had struggled recently both in the Arabian Gulf League and the Asian Champions League, losing three times in 13 days. Last month’s domestic defeat to Al Shabab meant Al Ain relinquished top spot in the league table, while successive reverses to Qatar’s El Jaish in the Champions League consigned the Garden City club to bottom of Group D.
However, Wednesday’s crucial 1-0 victory against Al Ahli, the Saudi Arabian league leaders, breathed life into Al Ain’s continental campaign and lifted them to second in the pool.
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The win made it three consecutive victories since the second Jaish defeat, with Al Ain having already responded in the Arabian Gulf League to keep close to frontrunners Al Ahli. With five rounds remaining, one point separates the UAE rivals at the summit, while Al Ain are also through to the quarter-finals of the President’s Cup.
Speaking after the Champions League win on Wednesday, Dalic praised the whole club for staying together during a difficult period.
“I want to use this chance to thank everyone in my club, my staff, my players and the management,” he said. “We had a bad time, a bad three weeks, but we stayed together. We stayed compact and thankfully we passed a very bad time.
“And also our fans stayed especially behind me. I felt their support and now we come back stronger than before. I’m sure we will make big fight until the end of season, because now we’ve passed the bad time, now we are strongest.”
Al Ain have 19 days without any competitive action, returning with the Champions League trip to Jeddah to again face Ahli, although seven of their first team are involved with the UAE national team for the upcoming 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
Dalic, though, is looking to use the break to work on rehabilitating his injured players. He also hopes the time spent on the training pitch will help Douglas and Danilo Asprilla, the two January signings, to integrate further with the team.
Winger Asprilla only recently returned from injury, but played a decisive role as substitute in Wednesday’s victory against Ahli. Douglas, meanwhile, has responded to criticism from sections of the Al Ain support to take his tally for the club to 10 goals in 11 matches.
“Sure, it will be good time for us, because we have three weeks without games, only training,” Dalic said. “For Douglas, for Asprilla and for Fawzi Fayez, players who were injured and have come back in the team.
“Hopefully we use this time for good training and hard work. Most important for us is that our players come back from the national team ready. We now have three weeks to try and fix everything and be ready for new match against Ahli.”
jmcauley@thenational.ae
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