Doha: Riding high from their Qatar Cup victory last week, Lekhwiya SC will hope to secure a spot in the last 16 of the AFC Champions League when they take on Saudi side Al Nassr in their second-leg encounter in Riyadh today.
Besides the Qatar Stars League and Saudi Professional League champions — Iranian pair Persepolis and Naft Tehran, Uzbekistan’s Pakhtakor, China’s Shandong Luneng, Thailand’s Buriram United and former continental champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Gamba Osaka will battle it out for the five remaining places in the last 16 today.
Currently, Lekhwiya are at the top of their group (Group A) with 10 points and the club needs only one more point to progress to the last-16 stage of the competition.
Al Nassr, however, badly need to win. If they draw today then Persepolis must also lose in Tehran for the Saudis to go through.
Lekhwiya had their last training session before leaving for Riyadh on Sunday. All the players except Dame Traore, who left Doha to attend his father’s funeral, attended the session.
Al Nassr, meanwhile, will be without suspended Saudi Arabia striker Mohammed Al Sahlawi and midfielder Ibrahim Ghaleb, while defender Mohammed Tresor is ruled out for Lekhwiya.
Meanwhile in Tehran, Persepolis will be hoping to bounce back from their defeat against Lekhwiya earlier. The Iranian club take on Uzbek side Bunyodkor in a must-win encounter.
“We still have a chance to qualify from the group as we have an important match against Bunyodkor,” said Persepolis coach Branko Ivankovic. “The defeat affected our chances and that is why we should study our mistakes and fix them before the final match.”
Bunyodkor defenders Hayrulla Karimov and Anvar Gafurov will be absent from the tie at the Azadi Stadium due to suspensions.
Elsewhere, inaugural AFC Champions League winners Al Ain from the United Arab Emirates, Naft Tehran, Pakhtakor and Al Shabab will all have their parts to play in the concluding ties in Group B.
Although Al Ain have already secured their passage to the last 16, the newly-crowned Emirati champions will face second-placed Naft at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium looking to secure top spot and home advantage in the second-leg of their last 16 tie later this month.
However, with Pakhtakor just two points behind Naft in third, a victory for the Uzbek club over already-eliminated Al Shabab of Saudi Arabia could see them leapfrog Naft and take the remaining ticket to the knockout stages if the Iranians were to lose in Al Ain.
But Pakhtakor will have to play their part in this scenario without the services of defender Egor Krimets who is suspended.
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