Al Duhail head coach Walid Regragui
Al Duhail head coach Walid Regragui yesterday expressed trust in his players and said a win against Persepolis in today’s AFC Champions League Group C match is the ‘only option’ for his side.
The QNB Stars League champions suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Sharjah last Friday, and are currently placed third in their group with two wins and equal number of defeats. Their hopes of a place in the knockout stage will highly depend on a win against the Iranians today.
“We will enter tomorrow’s (today) match with one choice which is victory, and we know that the Iranian team will enter the stadium with the same choice. They are a good team but we will work with all our strength to win full points and guarantee a place in the next round,” Regragui said during a press conference, yesterday.
“We know that all the clubs have the desire to achieve victory, which makes all the matches difficult but I trust the team’s players and their abilities to achieve the required from them.”
Group C is widely open as just three points separate leaders Persepolis and bottom placed Sharjah.
Al Duhail overcame Persepolis on Match Day 1 in Doha in February when Edmilson Junior and Mario Mandzukik powered the Qatari giants to a 2-0 win.
Players and the referees were in heated moments during the previous match, but the Moroccan tactician said he doesn’t want to talk about the referees decisions.
“Unfortunately, the referees decisions affected on us in the previous matches , as in our first match against Sharjah team which ended with our victory the referee decided a penalty that was not correct, and also in our second match the referee dismissed Mehdi Benatia. That was not a successful decision which greatly affected the course of the match,” Regragui said.
Meanwhile, Al Duhail star Ali Afif asserted that his team is ready for today’s clash
“We are ready for our match against Persepolis Iranian team and we will seek to return to our known level and we have the complete desire to achieve victory and cross to the next round of the competition,” Afif said.
“We will miss the efforts of Mehdi Bentia and he is one of the important players in the team. Players suffered a lot in the last two seasons from injuries that kept hitting them, but we are always able to get out from these crises using our fighting spirit and strong determination. We will qualify to the next round of the competition and until now our destiny is still in our hands which is what drives us and gives us the fighting spirit that will undoubtedly help us achieve victory,” Afif said.
Persepolis’ Iraqi midfielder Bashar Resan told Iranian media that the confrontation will not be an easy one for the visitors.
“When we came to Doha, our target was to get six points from the first two matches and this is what we did. But now the group is wide open, especially after Al Duhail lost to Sharjah.
The Iranian team beat Al Taawoun 1-0 thanks to Resan’s penalty in their first Group C match in Doha.
“We expect a difficult match against them (Al Duhail), especially since they will be playing at home,” Resan said.
