AFC/TNN
Doha
Qatar’s Al Gharafa are hoping that their star forward Yacine Brahimi is fit to play when they take on United Arab Emirates’s Shabab Al Ahli in the AFC Champions League Elite 2024-25 Preliminary Stage 2 tie at the Al Bayt Stadium on Tuesday at 6.30pm.
The Al Gharafa club announced that fans desiorus of attending the match will be given free tickets at Gate No. 9 of Al Bayt Stadium.
Shabab Al Ahli booked their spot after coming from behind to overwhelm Iran’s Sepahan 4-1 in their Preliminary Stage 1 encounter and will have a spring in their step for the showdown against Al Gharafa.
The sides crossed paths twice in the AFC Champions League, having settled for a 1-1 stalemate in 2015 with Shabab Al Ahli walking away with a huge 8-2 win in the 2019 edition.
Al Gharafa’s coach Pedro Martins while speaking at the pre-match conference, said, Shabab Al Ahli are a strong team that has players who are playing together for many years. We have studied them well and expecting a difficult match. They proved themselves very strong against Iran’s Sepahan in their previous match.
“The timing is not the best as we will play this important game just three days after our match against Al Khor, but I have confidence in my players and we will fight to secure our berth. Yacine Brahimi is improving gradually and we will see if he ready to play.”
Al Gharafa player Ferjani Sassi, exuded confidence saying, “We are 100 percent ready. All the players are excited and have great desire to achieve the victory in what will be a difficult match as Shabab Al Ahli are coming back to action after an impressive win.
“Our team’s atmosphere is good and the presence of experienced players will give us strength. We hope to see our fans in good numbers to support us.”
Shabab Ali Ahli’s head coach Paulo Sousa will be banking on the same formula that saw the UAE Pro League club triumph in Isfahan last Tuesday, with the new combination of Sardar Azmoun and Federico Cartabia expected to play more prominent roles after coming off the bench to spark the win.
Serbian Bogdan Planic and Brazilian Breno Cascardo will again be tasked with central defensive duties, while Sousa might be tempted to start Argentinian midfielder Gaston Alvarez, who made a cameo appearance against Sepahan.
Coach Sousa said, “It will be a different match from our last fixture. Al Gharafa have many prominent players but our goal is to win and reach the group stage.”
On his part, Shabab Al Ahli defender Eid Khamis, said, “It is going to be an exciting match as both teams will fight hard to advance. We are looking forward to continue our winning momentum.”
Al Gharafa will be equally driven to book their spot in the group stage, having opened their Ooredoo Stars League 2024-25 season with a 0-0 draw against Al Khor over the weekend.
Al Gharafa finished third in the 2023-24 Qatar Stars League and have boosted their roster with several notable acquisitions, including talismanic forward Yohan Boli from Qatar SC and well travelled Spanish veteran Joselu, who scored two late and decisive goals against Bayern Munich to seal Real Madrid’s place in the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League final.
The draw for the AFC Champions League Elite group stage will be conducted in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Friday. The losers of this tie, meanwhile, will enter the AFC Champions League Two 2024-25 group stage.
