“We must defeat Al Rayyan”: Branko Ivankovic

Tasnim – TEHRAN, Iran’s Persepolis football team’s head coach Branko Ivankovic says that they have no way but to defeat Al Rayyan.

Persepolis football team will host the Qatari club in Tehran’s Azadi Stadium on Monday in Group D of the AFC Champions League.

“I hope that our supporters to come out in numbers and fill up the stadium. Our results in Iran Professional League are convincing and we expect to see our fans in the stadium,” Ivankovic said in the pre-match news conference.

“Al Rayyam match is very important for us and we have a difficult task ahead of us. Persepolis has no way but to win the match,” the Croat added.

“Our players are well-prepared for the match and we hope to make our fans happy at the end of the match,” Ivankovic said.

“We lost to Al Rayyan 3-1 in Doha despite a good performance but that’s football. Al Rayyan has several international players and takes advantage of a good coach,” he stated.

“Persepolis just concentrates on winning the match,” Ivankovic concluded.

Meanwhile, Al Rayyan coach Michael Laudrup says that the match against Persepolis is very difficult but they are going to beat the Iranian giant.

“We know it will be a very tough match but we are here to get result,” Laudrup said in the pre-match news conference.

“This is for the seventh time that Al Rayyan participates in the ACL but we have not qualified for the knock out stage so far and we can bring an end to the disappointing performance,” the Dane added.

“Several Persepolis players are playing in Iran national football team and we know how strong they are.”

“I had lost to Persepolis in Tehran when I was Lekhwiya coach and they play very well in front of their fans but our players used to play in the full stadiums,” Laudrup stated.