Esteghlal Needs to Improve Drastically against Al Sadd: AFC
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The two-time Asian champion Esteghlal will need to improve drastically on Monday, if it hopes to fight back from a difficult position against a confident Al Sadd side.
Al Sadd will host Esteghlal at the Jassam bin Hamad Stadium on Monday in the second leg of the 2018 AFC Champions League quarter-final, with the host carrying over a 3-1 advantage from the first encounter.
Esteghlal’s hopes of reaching the semi-final for the first time since 2013 took a significant hit at the end of August, as it fell to a 3-1 home defeat against a Baghdad Bounedjah-inspired Al Sadd.
The Iranian outfit's defeat in the first leg was the first time in the AFC Champions League this season that Esteghlal had conceded more than one goal at home, with Winfried Schafer's men paying dearly for a drop in concentration over just a quarter hour period in the second half.
After Mame Baba Thiam's departure to Ajman, Esteghlal was in the market for a striker to keep the goals flowing, and it will be up to Morteza Tabrizi to hit the ground running after his summer arrival from Zob Ahan, the-afc.com wrote.
The 27-year-old is proven in the competition, having already registered four goals in eight appearances in Zob Ahan colors in the current campaign, and it will be down to whether Schafer can get the best out of his new striker.
Having been knocked out in the Champions League play-off round two years in a row, Al Sadd burst back on to the scene in this edition of the tournament, finishing in second place behind Persepolis in Group C to qualify for the Round of 16.
