DOHA (Qatar): Al Ahli Saudi meet Iraq’s Al Shorta in their Group A match as the 2020 AFC Champions League kicks off here at the Khalifa International Stadium on Monday.
“We have suffered from a lot of issues for the past two months, our performance in ACL was inconsistent. But we don’t want to dwell in the past and focus on upcoming matches. Hopefully luck will be on our side,” said Ahli coach Vladan Milojević on Sunday.
Both teams have never met in this competition, with Al Shorta’s only two encounters against Saudi teams coming against Al Hilal SFC in the 2004 group stage. Both games ended in defeats for the Iraqis; 2-1 and 2-0.
Al Shorta’s last appearance in the competition dates back to 2005, when they exited at the group stage, just like they did in 2004. They were unable to register a single win in both editions.
“We haven’t won any of our matches. We are here now to change that and in football anything is possible. We are focusing to secure victory in our upcoming matches,” said Shorta coach Abdul Ghani Shahad.
Al Ahli have also faced Iraqi opponents on two occasions; defeating Al Zawraa in both 2005 AFC Champions League group stage games 2-1 and 5-1.
Al Ahli have appeared in the AFC Champions League 11 times, last missing out in 2014. In seven of those campaigns, they advanced past the group stage, achieving their best result in 2012 when they reached the final, losing to Ulsan Hyundai of Korea Republic 3-0.
In 2019, Al Ahli reached the Round of 16, but came face-to-face with rivals and would-be champions Al Hilal, losing 4-2 at home, before coming just short with a 1-0 win in Riyadh to exit the competition.
A repeat of that encounter is a possibility should they confirm qualification with Al Hilal currently sitting in second place in Group B.
