Salim Cheniouni
Doha, Qatar - Tonight,
Al-Duhail will fight for their place in the AFC Champions
League semi-finals in a match against Perspolis, at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran.
Not only
will the Qatari club be starting from a position of strength, following their
1-0 first leg win against the Iranian side, but they have opportunity to be
scripting history of sorts. A victory would mean that it would be their 10th
successive one – a record for most wins on the trot in a single AFC Champions
League campaign.
Currently,
they are at par with Ulsan Hyundai, who recorded a historic run of nine
successive wins in the AFC Champions League six years ago. The South Korean
club had finished the winning streak with the title to cap it.
An ecstatic
club management posted on their twitter handle @DuhailSC in Arabic: “Our appointment
today at 5:00 pm Doha time in the quarter-finals of the #Asian Champions League
when the #Al-Duhail faces Iran’s Persepolis at Azadi Stadium.”
Duhail is
being managed by Algerian team coach Djamel Belmadi, who joined the club in
2015.
However, it
will not be an easy task for the Qatari side as the slender 1-0 advantage that
came off Almoez Ali’s header in the home game at the Khalifa International
Stadium may be tested at the Azadi Stadium.
Meanwhile,
last year's AFC Champions League semi-finalists, Persepolis, will likely play a
strong defense against Belmadi’s men, who play an attacking game.
With five
clean sheets in this year’s campaign, Perspolis’ Croatian coach Branko
Ivankovic will be keen on keeping the momentum going, vying for a place in the
semi-finals.
Previous Meetings in AFC Champions League:
28 August
2018: Al
Duhail 1-0 Persepolis
30 May
2017: Al Duhail 0-1 Persepolis
23 May
2017: Persepolis 0-0 Al Duhail
22 April
2015: Al Duhail 3-0 Persepolis
24 February
2015: Persepolis 3-0 Al
Duhail