ACL MD2 – Group A: Al Nasr vs. Sepahan [Preview]
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Loading...AFC – DUBAI, Ivan Jovanovic is hoping his Al Nasr side can bounce back in style against Sepahan in the AFC Champions League on Tuesday after the Serbian saw his side exit the UAE President’s Cup at the hands of Sharjah on Saturday.
The loss at the last 32 stage saw Al Nasr surrender the title they claimed last year and stretch their winless streak to four games, a run which includes last week’s 2-0 defeat against the Iranians on Matchday 1.
“In football, coaches are always under pressure and this is part of the game itself,” said Jovanovic (pictured).
“We understand that our fans are not happy with our recent results but we will try our best to have a positive result tomorrow in order to make them happy once again.
“We want to give our best in order to make up for the defeat that we had against Sepahan. We fixed the mistakes that we made in the previous match and I hope that the players will not be affected with the heavy schedule that we have.”
Al Nasr lost the first meeting between the two teams in Ishfahan last week due to a pair of strikes by Brazilian forward Luciano Pereira and, while the club from the United Arab Emirates have been competing domestically, Sepahan have benefited from a week’s rest.
Sepahan’s win over Al Nasr was their first in 13 games and relieved some of the pressure that had been building on head coach Igor Stimac, who claims the team’s recent performances are better than their position in the Iranian league suggests.
“We are currently in 11th place in the league ranking but this doesn’t reflect the quality of football that we are showing,” said the Croatian.
“Winning against Al Nasr in the previous match reflects the good work that we have done and hopefully we can repeat this tomorrow.
“Al Nasr is a good team and they have quality players and we should not give them space to create scoring chances. We need to play as a unit and we will try our best to repeat the good performance that we had in the earlier match so we can get another good result.”
