Al-Gharafa has a very good opportunity today to regain its victories in the AFC Champions League for the elite when it clashes with the Iranian team Persepolis, and this opportunity is to move the match from Iran away from the fans to the Emirates due to the difficult circumstances that the region is going through, and the opportunity is for the competitor not to appear yet. With his well-known level and strength.
Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium in Dubai, UAE, will host the match, which begins at seven in the evening. Al Gharafa enters the match in seventh place with 3 points, and Persepolis is in tenth place with one point.
A good opportunity does not mean that Al-Gharafa will achieve an easy victory, but rather it means paying attention, sticking to it, dealing with it with the utmost seriousness, and not losing focus as happened in the Al-Istiqlal matches in the first round, and Al-Wasl in the last round, in which Al-Gharafa lost in the fatal time despite the good performance it provided.
In general, the match will be difficult and strong and will witness a fiery struggle, especially on the part of Persepolis, which considers the match to be the penultimate opportunity, and it is necessary to stick to it to achieve the first victory and then come back strong in the coming rounds.
The match is also very important for Al Gharafa because it needs a second victory and to move forward in order to be in the round of 16.
Such matches by Al Gharafa require a lot of focus.
Al-Gharafa has the elements and capabilities that help it confront the expected pressure and then shift to the attack.
Al-Gharafa’s strength appears in the midfield with the presence of the trio of Ferjani Sassi, Yacine Brahimi and Koeman, and in front of them is the Spaniard Joselu.
Pedro Martinez: We have positive motivations
In his statements during the press conference that preceded the Panthers’ confrontation with Iranian Persepolis, Portuguese coach Pedro Martinez, coach of the Al Gharafa team, focused on the necessity of overcoming this difficult obstacle and obtaining the three points.
Martins said: My team is fully prepared to play this confrontation, and our goal is to achieve the second victory in the difficult tournament and return to Qatar with the three points.
He added: I believe that the positive results we achieved in the league during the recent period, leading to the victory over Al-Arabi by three goals to one, will serve as positive motivation for all the team’s players in order to maintain the series of positive results.
He continued: We all realize that we are facing a large and strong opponent and are fighting strong and different competitions, and we must adapt to the schedule of this tournament and its difficult competitions.