Ebrahimzadeh wary of Hilal’s home form

AFC – RIYADH, Coach Mansour Ebrahimzadeh insisted reaching the AFC Champions League final will be no easy task as Zob Ahan look to defend their one-goal advantage against Al Hilal at King Fahad International Stadium on Wednesday.

Zob Ahan hold the upper hand in the semi-final tie thanks to Ghassem Haddadifar’s goal in the first-leg but despite enjoying that victory two weeks ago in Esfahan, Ebrahimzadeh (pictured) knows their passage to Tokyo is anything but assured.

“Al Hilal have good defensive and attacking players but hopefully we can beat them,” he said.

“The match is important for us whether it was against Al Hilal or any other team because if we don’t beat them, we will not advance to the final.”

“Our aim is to advance to the final and we will give our best in the game against Al Hilal. We have prepared well and we are not worried about playing in front of big crowds.”

Zob Ahan’s run to the last four may have been unexpected given they were drawn in a group that also featured Bunyodkor and last season’s finalists Al Ittihad, but Ebrahimzadeh pointed to their good home form as the reason they are just 90 minutes away from the final of the continental competition.

“When the tournament started our aim was to continue (as far as possible) in the competition,” he added.

“We gave good performances in all our games and now at this stage, our aim is to advance to the final.

“Our strategy was to ensure wins in the matches that we played at home. In all the matches we have played we have had successful results, especially at home.”

Ebrahimzadeh believes his players can also call on the experience of the 2-2 draw with Al Ittihad in Jeddah earlier in the year to help them overcome Al Hilal.

“We previously played against Al Ittihad in the group stage. We can be better and we will have a good plan for the game. Each team will try to win the game and we will try our best to win,” he concluded.

Zob Ahan midfielder Mohamad Salsali underlined the Iranians will have to be at their best to nullify Al Hilal and stressed the importance of an away goal.

“We must produce a good performance on Wednesday and we should have a good plan to beat Al Hilal’s defence,” he said.

“I guess that we can use our good tactics and the attacking players will be ready for the game. It is really important to score if we want to win the game and advance to the final.”