“AFC Champions League”: Al-Nasr seeks to avoid surprising Al-Fayhaa…and decide its qualification for the “Eight”
Al-Nasr team hopes to confirm its superiority over Al-Fayhaa again and reserve the qualification ticket for the quarter-finals of the 2023 AFC Champions League, when they meet in the second leg of the round of 16 of the tournament at the “Al-Awal Park” stadium in Riyadh, after the Al-Asmi yellow team succeeded in achieving victory in the first leg with a goal. Alone without a response.
Castro confirmed Al-Aqidi’s absence from the local and continental championships (Al-Nasr Club)
Al-Nasr will return to host Al-Fayhaa, but it will lack the services of the duo, Raghed Al-Najjar, the team’s goalkeeper, who suffered an injury against Al-Fateh during the Saudi Professional League competitions, the same confrontation that also witnessed the injury of Sultan Al-Ghannam. Which makes their absence certain in the decisive confrontation with Al-Fayhaa.
Walid Abdullah, the expected substitute to defend Al-Nasr’s net and participate in goalkeeping, will be a substitute for Al-Najjar in light of the unfitness of Colombian David Ospina, who suffered an injury after returning to participate in the Riyadh Season Cup tournament during the break.
The Portuguese Luis Castro, coach of the Al-Nasr team, is still looking for his team to return to its normal technical condition, which he indicated in recent press conferences that this will happen successively with the return to the match atmosphere, since the capital yellow did not play any matches during the suspension period except for the two Riyadh Season Cup matches. , after canceling his tour in China; Due to the injury of his Portuguese star, Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Capital Yellow is putting its weight into the current edition of the continental championship in search of its title for the first time in its history, as it relies heavily on its Portuguese star, Cristiano Ronaldo, who is considered the most prominent player on the victory map.
The absences of Al-Najjar and Al-Ghannam will represent a problem for Al-Nasr’s defensive organization, as well as the offensive solutions, especially in light of Sultan Al-Ghannam’s brilliance in creating goals, as Ali Lagami is expected to appear on the main list, but the latter is distinguished by the defensive side and roles more than the offensive ones, as for Walid Abdullah. He is far from participating in matches, and despite his return in the Riyadh Season Cup tournament and his participation in the rest of the minutes of Al-Nasr’s match against Al-Fateh, he remained on the bench for a long time without participating.
Castro, the Al-Nasr coach, will look to score an early goal that will give him comfort and bring him closer to progressing to the next round of the tournament, especially since the goal in the last match was delayed a lot until eight minutes before the final whistle after Cristiano Ronaldo succeeded in bypassing Al-Fayhaa’s defenses and cornering the ball into the net, granting Al-Nasr. Preference in the face of return.
Sadio Mane will be among coach Castro’s options after he missed the first leg against Al-Fayhaa due to his lack of complete readiness following his return from participating with his country in the African Cup of Nations, where Mane represents one of the ideal offensive solutions for Al-Nassr, next to the Brazilian Talisca, Al-Nasr’s top scorer in the continental championship with 8. goals, and is currently at the top of the scorers’ rankings as well.
Al-Fayhaa players during their preparations to face Al-Nasr (Al-Fayhaa Club)
Portuguese Luis Castro, Al-Nasr’s technical director, confirmed that goalkeeper Nawaf Al-Aqidi will be officially suspended from the team’s matches in the AFC Champions League, explaining that the suspension includes local and continental matches as well, which means his absence from facing Al-Nasr and Al-Fayha in the second leg of the AFC Champions League final is confirmed. (Wednesday), at Al Awal Park Stadium in Riyadh.
Al-Nasr coach said in response to a journalist’s question that there was news about Nawaf’s eligibility to participate, and he said: “Wrong information.” Nawaf Al-Aqidi will not play against Al-Fayhaa, and will not be able to play in the AFC Champions League.”
Castro said, during the press conference that preceded the confrontation with Al-Nasr and Al-Fayhaa: “We respect the opposing team that we face in the round of 16, which has a group of distinguished and fast players, and the nomination card is still open between the two teams.”
The technical director added: “Al-Fayhaa plays with distinctive lines in attack, and will try to play in an offensive manner in search of victory after losing in the first leg, but we will also try to win and ensure qualification at our stadium and among our fans.”
The coach added: “We naturally prepared for the Al-Fayhaa match, due to the limited time between the Asia match and the last league match, but we are fully prepared for the match and we have the responsibility to achieve victory again and ensure qualification to the next round.”
On the other hand, Abdullah Al-Khaibari, Al-Nasr player, said that there is no easy match in the AFC Champions League, describing the continental championship as “different and having a special and different character,” while stressing Al-Nasr’s desire to achieve victory and add a new positive result to officially qualify for the round. Next, before his team’s match against Al-Fayhaa in the second leg of the round of 16.
As for the Al-Fayhaa team, which realizes that reaching this stage is a great achievement in itself, it will work to cause a big surprise by eliminating the capital’s Yellow Club from the tournament and snatching a pass to the next round despite the difficulty of the task.
Al-Fayhaa enters the confrontation after reviving its victory against Al-Hazm in the twentieth round of the Saudi Professional League, a victory that came after a series of failures. To give the team the euphoria of being relatively far away from the relegation risk areas, and to enable it to enter the match against Al-Nasr comfortably.
Serbian Vuk Razovic, coach of the Al-Fayhaa team, is aware of the differences between the two teams, according to his conversations and the capabilities possessed by Al-Nasr and his Al-Fayhaa team, but he will work to try to achieve an unprecedented achievement for the club, which is participating in its first participation in the AFC Champions League.
Al-Fayhaa appeared in an organized manner on the defensive side in the first leg, despite the difficulties the team was suffering from before, and succeeded in reducing the danger of Al-Nasr until the last minutes of the confrontation, which it will work on in the second leg.
In the matches in the West Asia region, the Emirati team Al Ain is seeking to clinch the qualification ticket to the quarter-finals when it hosts its counterpart, the Uzbek team Nasaf, after they tied in the first leg without goals.
Al Ain will be armed with the ground and public staff when the confrontation takes place at Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain City, and will throw its weight into the confrontation to seize the qualification card after the team demonstrated high technical capabilities in the group stage.
2024-02-21 11:25:54
#death #star #victory #Prince #Mamdouh #bin #Saud
