ACL RD16: Al Shabab Al Arabi v Esteghlal preview

AFC – DUBAI, Al Shabab Al Arabi coach Marcos Paqueta will be without four first team regulars for Wednesday’s AFC Champions League Round of 16 first leg tie against recently crowned Iran Pro League champions Esteghlal.

Play-off winners Al Shabab Al Arabi advanced to the last 16 for the first time in three attempts with a runners-up finish behind Qatar champions Lekhwiya after beating Uzbekistan’s Pakhtakor 2-1 in Tashkent on the final Matchday two weeks ago.

But with Al Shabab Al Arabi looking to establish an advantage ahead of the return fixture in Tehran next week, defenders Mohammed Marzooq, Walid Abbas and Ali Mahmood along with midfielder Hassan Ibrahim are ruled out through suspension after the quartet started the win over the Uzbekistan champions earlier this month.

“The match against Esteghlal will be a tough match as we will be playing against a strong team who have a lot of experience,” said Paqueta (pictured), who saw his side beat Ittihad Kalba 3-2 on Thursday.

“We will also be missing some of our key players, but we have a lot of confidence that their replacements will have a good match.

“We have 180 minutes to play and the most important thing is to avoid conceding any goals when we play at home in order to have an advantage before the second leg.

“We will try our best to stop the threat of Esteghlal who have good players.”

Recently-crowned domestic champions Esteghlal impressively topped Group D ahead of Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal and UAE Pro League winners Al Ain to earn a second consecutive appearance in the last 16.

Esteghlal lost just one during the Group Stage, and importantly, Amir Ghalenoei’s side picked up seven points from their three away games after beating both Al Hilal and Al Ain while drawing with Al Rayyan in Qatar.

“The match will be very hard for the two teams as we have a good side and Al Shabab are also a good team and they have good players who can score from few chances. They have a good chance to win the match as they will try to take advantage of playing at home in front of their fans,” said Esteghlal coach Ghalenoei.

“We have watched the previous matches of our opponents and we have studied them well. They have good players especially in the attacking line and they can score goals at any time.

“We must stop their midfield and try to convert the chances that we will create.”