Tribune News Network
Doha
Al Gharafa will face one of their stiffest tests for a place in the knockout stage of the AFC Champions League Elite 2024-25 stage when they meet Al Nassr Club of Saudi Arabia at the Al Bayt Stadium on Monday at 7pm.
Al Gharafa head into the tie being sixth in the West Zone standings with Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr third.
Al Gharafa have blown hot and cold on the continental stage, something which they can’t afford as the League Stage enters the second half but will be boosted by Friday’s 3-1 win against Al Wakrah in their Qatar Stars League 2024-25 match.
A haul of four points means they can be overtaken even by bottom-placed Al Ain FC, with the UAE side three adrift, but the records are not in Al Gharafa’s favour with the Qatari side winless in each of their last 10 matches against Saudi Arabian opposition in the competition.
Al Gharafa coach Pedro Martins, however, said he expects his team to rise to the occasion and change the script.
“We need a win to stay on track for the knockout stage. I hope the players will perform up to their potential. We will play with our own style against Al Nassr, which is a strong side having a great striker in Cristiano Ronaldo, but we will apply individual marking on him. Our chances to advance are still there and we will continue to fight for it,” said Martins.
Al Gharafa’s Argintinian player Matias Nani, said, “We look forward to playing a good match and the while it’s a strong challenge, we aim to get the three points.”
Al Nassr coach Stefano Pioli said his team would be wary of Al Gharafa players Yacine Brahimi and Joselu.
“Al Gharafa are strong opponents having good players. They are an organized team which tries to control the field. They have a good midfielder in (Yacine) Brahimi and good striker Joselu so we must be careful,” said Pioli.
He added, “We get little time to recover during our games but we are used to it. We have professional players who are used to these situations. We had a good training session and the team is ready for the match. We will try to do our best after we lost our last match due to mistakes.
“The most important thing is that our mental focus is present tomorrow. It is true that in the last match we made mistakes, but we have a final training session today to prepare for the match with Al Gharafa.”
About Ronaldo’s presence, Pioli said, “Today we have the last training session, and if he is ready, he will be present in tomorrow’s match.”
Al Nassr are unbeaten in their last seven matches against Qatari opposition on the continental stage, winning each of their last five.
They suffered a shock 2-1 defeat to Al Qadisiyah in the Saudi Pro League 2024-25 on Friday.
