Alkass Digital
Hernan Crespo expressed his delight with the progress of his Al Duhail SC side ahead of their final Group D clash against Sepahan FC who are fighting for one of the best three runners-up spots in the AFC Champions League™ 2022.
Al Duhail are guaranteed the top spot and a Round of 16 berth. They are the only Qatari side that have achieved this feat after five rounds of games so far in this edition, in what is Crespo’s first AFC Champions League campaign in charge of the side he took over in the middle of March.
The last time the two sides met, Kenyan forward Michael Olunga left it late to snatch all three points with a fine diving header after the Qatar Stars League side had initially gone through the first half without a single shot on target and missing a large number of chances later.
“This is the final game in a difficult group stage for us, and I’m delighted to have progressed with a game to spare,” said Crespo.
“We will work incredibly hard to make sure we deserve that Round of 16 spot, Sepahan will not make that final game easy for us at all. From Matchday One, we worked on eliminating the mistakes in our game whether in attack or defence, and I think this showed in the results we got from there onwards.”
Al Duhail have Edmilson largely responsible for how far they have gone; The Brazilian-born Belgian has scored six goals - half of the club’s tally so far - and has assisted a further two. As if this wasn’t enough to highlight just how important he is to Crespo’s plans, he also created 21 chances so far, five more than any other player in the competition.
“When you have such professional players at your disposal, everything becomes a lot easier on and off the pitch,” said Crespo.
“I am incredibly happy with this new experience in the continent of Asia. I want to thank everyone, players, staff and officials for helping me settle into the job, and to get a grip on the Qatar Stars League and the AFC Champions League.”
Tied on points with Al Taawoun in Group D and with a negative head-to-head record with them, as things stand the Isfahan based side sit third in the group and have no option but to win this match and hope other results go their way. Moharram Navidkia said that his players are ready and up for the task.
“We lost our first game against Al Duhail, but we will do our utmost best to win this final game in the group,” said Navidkia.
“We still have a shot at progressing. All of our players are ready to do everything it takes to win that game, everyone wants to win. We have to care only about how our game against them goes without looking at other teams’ results. We can only look ahead from now on."
“We made a few mistakes in the previous matches and we always look to limit those as much as possible through working on them during training sessions, and we always look to make full use of the chances we get in the best way we can.”
Sepahan have scored seven goals, and their two forwards Shahriyar Moghanlou and Sajad Shahbazadeh have contributed six of them, with Mohamed Reza Hosseini adding one too. Although Navidkia’s men hit blanks in two of the past five games, the trio of forwards have always been a threat.