Al Duhail and Al Shabab expect a no-holds barred contest when they face off in their AFC Champions League (West) quarter-final at the Al Thumama Stadium in Doha today.
Qatar’s Duhail advanced to the last eight tie with a hard-fought 7-6 penalty shootout win over fellow Qatar Stars League side Al Rayyan while Saudi Arabia’s Shabab had a relatively easier outing, defeating Uzbekistan’s FC Nasaf 2-0.
Duhail head coach Hernan Crespo said his team will be ready for everything that Shabab bring to the match. “We are proud to be in the quarter-finals. We will face a great team in Al Shabab but we are very confident in our strength and our identity. I know our match against Al Rayyan went the distance but when you reach the quarter-final stage, everything is in terms of emotional rather than physical. We played 120 minutes but we have had time to recover to play this quarter-final,” said Crespo.
An area of concern was Duhail needed penalties to defeat Rayyan despite dominating the Round of 16 tie but Crespo said he wasn’t overly worried. “We didn’t deserve for the match to be decided by penalties. We created so much but at times, we missed the final passes. I know we must be clinical but we have the players who can do it. We have (Michael) Olunga, Almoez (Ali), Edmilson (Junior) and (Mohamed) Muntari. What is important is that we continue creating to have the chances to score,” said Crespo.
Duhail will have to be at their most potent against an Shabab side who have kept six clean sheets en route to the quarter-finals and head coach Vicente Moreno expects another strong performance from his team.
“This is a critical match with all the quarter-final teams equally strong. We will play a team who are playing at home. It won’t be easy but we have studied the strengths and weaknesses of Al Duhail. We will focus on ourselves and we will prepare the best we can for the match,” said Moreno. Shabab will enter the tie in a rich vein of form, with the club very much in the running for the Saudi Pro League title and Moreno said the target is to maintain the momentum against Duhail.

Foolad confirm head coach departure ahead of quarter-final
Meanwhile, quarter-finalists Foolad confirmed yesterday that Javad Nekounam has quit as the Iranian side’s head coach, less than two days before the team is due to face defending champions Al Hilal from Saudi Arabia.
A statement by the club said they had accepted the resignation of the former Iran midfielder, who represented his country at the World Cup in 2006 and 2014, in the aftermath of his team’s 1-0 win over Al Faisaly on Sunday.
Nekounam will be replaced on an interim basis by Hamid Reza Rabaji when Foolad meet the Saudis at Al Janoub Stadium in Doha today. While Nekounam steered the club to the quarter-finals of the continental championship for the first time, Foolad have struggled in the domestic league and are currently 18 points adrift of leaders Sepahan.
Foolad are looking to claim a place in the semi-finals, where they would meet the winners of the clash between Shabab and Duhail. The winner of the semi-final will take on Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds in the two-leg final on April 29 and May 6.