Al-Ahli Youth will face a tough match when they visit Sepahan Isfahan of Iran at 8:15 pm today at Naghsh-e Jahan Stadium in Isfahan, Iran, in the first stage of the preliminary round of the AFC Champions League for the elite, in a match that will be managed by a South Korean refereeing team led by Kim Jong-hyuk.
The Dubai Knights seek to recall the memories of the “golden generation” that achieved the club’s best achievements in the continental championship when it qualified for the final of the 2015 edition and came in second place after losing to Guangzhou Evergrande of China.
Shabab Al Ahli hope to repeat their superiority over Sepahan, as this is the third encounter between the two teams in the AFC Champions League. The “Dubai Knights” defeated their Iranian rivals in the 2014 edition on the same stadium hosting today’s match in the group stage by two goals to one, after Shabab Al Ahli played a great match and achieved victory thanks to goals by Ahmed Khalil in the 39th minute and Ismail Al Hammadi in the last minute of the match, while the two teams tied without goals in the second leg at Rashid Stadium in Dubai.
Al-Ahli youth are looking forward to achieving an ideal start in their Asian journey, and returning from Iran with a valuable victory, as the winner of the match will qualify for the second round of the play-off, to meet Al-Gharafa of Qatar on the 13th of this month at Al-Bayt Stadium in Doha, and accordingly the winner will qualify to join the main round of the tournament.
Al-Ahli youth team concluded its preparations by holding an external camp in Austria, where it played three friendly matches: in the first, it won against the Austrian “SK Gabbing” with nine goals to one, while it lost the second friendly against the Azerbaijani league champion Qarabag with five goals to two. The external camp concluded with a big win over the Italian Udinese youth team with nine goals to none, and it returned to Dubai to resume its internal preparations before traveling to Iran to play its first official match this season in the Asian entitlement against Sepahan.
The Dubai Knights are facing the Asian challenge with new changes after Portuguese coach Paulo Sousa took over the technical staff, succeeding Serbian Marko Nikolic. The club has also made player contracts, most notably the deal for Iranian international player Sardar Azmoun, coming from German league champion Bayer Leverkusen, who played last season on loan with Italian club Roma. Argentine Gaston Suarez was also signed from Bani Yas, Guinean resident Omar Keita from Emirates Club, and Rakan Al-Menhali from Al-Jazira.
• Al-Ahli youth defeated its Iranian rival in the 2014 edition on the same stadium hosting today’s match with a score of 2-1.
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