Tractor Sazi Was Not Lucky Against Al Ahli: Coach Toni Oliveira

Tasnim – TABRIZ, Iran’s Tractor Sazi coach Toni Oliveira said his team should have won the match against Al Ahli of the UAE, but they were not lucky enough to do that.

The defeat was the fourth in six group matches for Tractor Sazi and ensured the Iran league leader ended the group stage of the 2015 AFC Champions League bottom of Group D.

“We missed several players, but our players put in a good performance,” said Toni Oliveira in the post-match news conference.

“I want to thank my players for their performance as they played with great fighting spirit, but we couldn’t get a positive result,” the Portuguese coach added.

“We came here to play a good match and get a positive result and we showed great fighting spirit. We were not lucky as we took the lead twice in the match, but we failed to hold on to our lead.”

Al Ahli coach Cosmin Olaroiu praised his team’s fighting spirit as the Emirati club twice came from behind to notch up a 3-2 win over Iran’s Tractor Sazi that secured its place in the knockout rounds of the 2015 AFC Champions League.

“The match was good, but our main problem was missing the chances that we created,” the Romanian coach told the-AFC.

“We made two mistakes, but we staged a good comeback and got a victory which helped us to qualify to the knockout stage,” he added.

“Our main target was to advance to the knockout stage of the AFC Champions League and now we achieved our target. We expected a tough match, but our players played with a great fighting spirit which helped us to win,” Olaroiu said.