Al Duhail, Al Ahli Saudi square off in crucial tie

(MENAFN - The Peninsula) AFC Al Duhail SC and Al Ahli Saudi FC will have the benefit of knowing what they have to do going into their 2021 AFC Champions League Group C clash at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium today. Both are tied on eight with Esteghlal FC, with the Islamic Republic of Iran side playing Iraq's Al Shorta earlier today, with only the group winners assured of advancing to the Round of 16. The three best runnersup from the five AFC Champions League West groups will also advance, meaning Al Duhail and Al Ahli Saudi will have all to play for even if Esteghlal beat Al Shorta. Al Duhail could have avoided being in this position had they not fallen to a shock 2-1 defeat to Al Shorta, which head coach Sabri Lamouchi (pictured) said was their worst performance of the campaign. The French coach blamed fatigue for the defeat but he will need to galvanise his players for one last effort to ensure Al Duhail take their place in the Round of 16 as group winners, with his team having drawn 1-1 with Al Ahli Saudi in the corresponding fixture. 'Tomorrow's match will be like a final for the two teams and we need a victory if we want to advance to the next stage, said Lamouchi. 'It will be a football battle t o m o r r o w and the two sides will be looking for a victory. 'Al Ahli's performance has changed since the start of the tournament and we expect a difficult match because we are playing against a strong team. It might be another crazy match like we had previously. 'I don't think that the defeat against Al Shorta put p r e s s u r e on us as w e h a d a n excellent start to the competition. We lost the only match that we didn't expect to lose. 'We will be missing important players like Benatia and Al Ahraq but we have players who can replace them. Our ambitions tomorrow is to win the match regardless of the other results. Al Ahli Saudi recovered well from their opening 5-2 defeat against Esteghlal to get back into contention but their inability to defeat the Iranians over their two matches has cost them dearly.MENAFN30042021000063011010ID1102005578