We deserve to be in the ACL 2020 final: Jalal Hosseini

Tasnim – DOHA, Persepolis captain Jalal Hosseini is determined to lift AFC Champions League trophy after the end of the match against Ulsan Hyundai at Al-Janoub Stadium on Saturday.

Having lost the 2017 AFC Champions League semi-final 6-2 on aggregate to Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal SFC, Persepolis went one better the following year by making the final – only to come up short against Kashima Antlers, who followed up a 2-0 win in Japan with a stalemate at Azadi Stadium in Tehran.

After a disappointing group stage elimination in 2019, Persepolis is back to its best and within one match of becoming the first Iranian team to win the AFC Champions League, and 38-year-old Hosseini believes he and his teammates are prepared for glory.

“We put in a lot of effort and overcame plenty of difficulties,” the former Iran international center-back, who joined Persepolis in 2016, told the-afc.com.

“But here we are in a position we deserve to be, which is the final of the 2020 AFC Champions League. After the end of the West matches, we continued to compete in the league and played some good matches, but unfortunately, we were not able to contest our last two league games, but we had good training sessions and prepared well.”

Hosseini played all 180 minutes over the two legs in the 2018 final, but with age taking its toll, he was limited to three starts in the 2020 edition. The departure of fellow center-back Shojae Khalilzadeh for Al-Rayyan last month could well mean Hosseini is in line for a starting spot against Ulsan Hyundai on Saturday.

Out of 14 players who played a part in the double header against Kashima Antlers, only six remain at the club, and as one of them, the club captain sees many differences two years later.

“Conditions differ between matches; the conditions we had in the 2018 final are different to the conditions here in the 2020 final. We have many different players and also, we are playing a single leg at a neutral ground instead of home and away,” he added.

“This makes the game difficult for both teams because you cannot afford to make mistakes and have to be focused throughout. In 2018, we were not able to become champion of Asia, but we are here to compensate and are fully motivated,” Hosseini concluded.