Al Sadd’s head coach Jesualdo Ferreira of Portugal gestures during the AFC Champions League semi-final first leg match against Persepolis FC at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha on Tuesday.
DOHA: Al Sadd coach Jesualdo Ferreira has given his team a rallying shout ahead of the second leg of their AFC Champions League semi-final against Persepolis, saying the Doha giants could turns thing around in the decisive encounter.
On Tuesday, Persepolis upset Al Sadd plans with a 1-0 win at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium following a late penalty in the first leg.
“I am sure that Al Sadd are capable of returning with a positive result,” Ferreira said at the post-match press conference.
“We still have a chance of winning the second leg. The team must believe in its chances in order to achieve this goal (of reaching the final),” the Portuguese added.
“We are only thinking about one result and that is to win the second leg in Tehran. This is the only result that will take us through to the final,” he said.
Al Sadd coach came down hard on the Iranian rivals, saying the visitors resorted to negative tactics in the game under lights on Tuesday.
“Persepolis are a tough side. They were wrestling with us, it is not football. They wasted time throughout the game,” he said.
“We fought well but now we don’t have any option but to win the second leg in order to keep our title hopes alive. We know how difficult it will be but we have the desire to achieve it,” he added.
When asked about his team selection and plans for the return clash on October 23, Ferreira said: “Meshaal Barsham was injured and he wasn’t able to kick the ball. That’s why Saad Al-Dosari played but he won’t be playing in the second leg because he picked up a yellow card.”
The coach added: “As for Hamza Al Sanhaji, he is our only striker on the bench and I put him in to replace Hamid Ismail to add strength to the attack. Hamza’s lack of playing time in the league is not in our hands, it is due to the QFA’s rules.”
When questioned on choosing to play with three central midfielders, Ferreira said: “If you look at the game against Al Rayyan, we played with the same formation and it was very successful.”
“The second leg will be really difficult especially as we are going to be playing in front of 100,000 fans. They have a big advantage because of the 1-0 win here. They also have great physical strength and will look to exploit their mistakes, but we can do it,” Ferreira said.
Al Sadd midfielder Ismail echoed coach Ferreira’s sentiments, saying Al Sadd will be playing to win. Ismail said Al Sadd was in dominant position until the 86th-minute penalty from Ali Alipour who was rough tackled by goalkeeper Saad Al Sheeb.
“We controlled the match right up to the penalty,” Ismail said. “We felt some of their players were exhausted and so we tried to push forward to get the win but unfortunately, we ended up losing. We now look forward to going to Tehran and getting a good result there.”
“We are used to seeing Iranian sides play an open game against us but Persepolis were playing in a defensive manner.”
“I think they may play a more open game in front of their fans in the second leg and that could turn out to be good for us; we could use that to our advantage and score the goals that we are looking for,” he said.
“Of course, we did not play as well as we wanted in this game but we now have a huge desire to perform at a higher level in Tehran and come back with a win.
“We have a good period of preparation lying ahead of us and, hopefully, Al Sadd will be in a better situation by then. What is important is that we fully believe in our chances,” he added.
