Al Duhail Head Coach Hernan Crespo expressed his confidence in the team’s players and their ability to achieve a positive result versus the Iranian team Persepolis in the second round of the group stage of the AFC Champions League.

The coach said the pre-match press conference that was held at 12 noon in the Club’s press conference hall: Nothing changes in our preparations. We are working hard, diligently and professionally in order to be part of this important competition. We will face a very aggressive team that has distinguished elements and we seek to confront them and score points against them.

The coach added: We are happy with Coutinho joining the team and showing his skills and abilities on the field, even though he only participated for an hour during the last league match, but he succeeded in getting a penalty kick and scoring the second goal from a direct free kick, and he was not 100 percent ready, and since the beginning of the season, we are facing issues with the participation of professionals, as we are now missing Diallo, and in the previous Asian match we lost Olunga, but the team has Qatari players with distinguished levels, which is a good thing for us, and they are able to fill the gap that could occur at any time.

Crespo concluded: We enter all the competitions and tournaments with the ambition to compete for their title, and last year we succeeded in reaching the semifinal round for the first time, and although it is a good thing, it is not enough because we are seeking to win the title, and we know that the team is in a difficult group, however, we will work hard to earn points and qualify for the next round, and the players’ abilities can push the team to reach advanced stages of the competition.