ACL SF (2nd leg): Esteghlal Preview

AFC – TEHRAN, Esteghlal coach Amir Ghalenoei wants his players to put their 2-0 loss to FC Seoul in the first leg of their AFC Champions League semi-final behind them as they prepare to take on the Korean side in the return match on Wednesday with a spot in the final up for grabs.

The Korean side grabbed the upper hand in the tie thanks to goals on either side of half-time by Dejan Damjanovic and Go Yo-han in Seoul a week ago.

It leaves the Iranian champions with plenty of work to do for the second leg at the Azadi Stadium as they aim to become just the second club after Korea’s Pohang Steelers to be crowned Asian champions on three occasions.

“We were down 1-0 at the end of the first period but we didn’t perform badly,” said Ghalenoei.

“After conceding the first goal, our players put on a sensational performance but unfortunately they lost their concentration. That was what I had warned them about during half-time break, but things didn’t go well for us in the second period.

“I did change some players but it didn’t change the game. However, it’s not worthwhile talking about the game in Seoul now as we believe that tomorrow’s game is the second half of the overall match and we have got to win this one.”

While it will be no easy task for his team to turn around the tie especially with key midfielders Javad Nekounam and Andranik Teymourian suspended, Ghalanoei still believes that he had the players who can get the job done.

“It’s not an impossible mission to come back from a 2-0 loss to get a winning result that will take us into the final. In the past, we have come back from a first-leg deficit to record an aggregate win,” the former Iran national coach said.

“Our first priority on Wednesday will be to not concede the first goal because we know that they are a very good team. After that we can implement our thoughts and tactics.”

While wary of the danger posed by Montenegrin striker Damjanovic and his Columbian strike partner Mauricio Molina, Ghalanoei insisted that his team will not be focussing their attention on any individual players.

“FC Seoul’s strikers are very dangerous upfront. Damjanovic and Molina are the players to watch and we will remain cautious about them,” said the former Iran national coach.

“But football is not about one or two individual players as the whole team should remain very smart in attack and defence. We should do our best to cut the link between their defence and midfield. That is one of our aims in the game.”

While his team need to score at least two goals to avoid elimination, Ghalanoei stressed that his players must stay patient and maintain their discipline.

“It is no big matter about when we can break the deadlock in the game, but if we score within the first 10 minutes then we can master the rest of the game,” he said.

“We will have to play a logical game and our players should refrain from getting too excited or emotional.

“During the past couple of days we have tried to enhance the morale of our players and I believe they are very much motivated and have a high incentive to celebrate at the end of the match especially on home soil.”