Dubai: Al Ahli will start as favourites when they take on Al Jazira in the final of the Arabian Gulf Cup to be played at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium on Saturday.
Fresh from cementing their status as the best UAE team this season after winning the Arabian Gulf League last week, the Red Knights will be out to shrug off their weariness and help themselves to a third trophy this season.
They opened the season by winning the Super Cup in September and assured themselves of the league title for the second time in the professional era with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Al Wasl with three rounds still remaining a week last Thursday.
Al Ahli are also in the final of the season-ending President’s Cup against Al Ain on May 18, while remaining a step away from the knockout stages of the AFC Champions League, where they need a win against Qatar’s Al Sadd to progress on April 22.
After this, they return for their crunch league tie against neighbours and arch-rivals Al Shabab on April 27.
On the other hand, Al Jazira are equally tired after managing a 3-2 win over Qatar’s Al Rayyan on Wednesday night to join Al Ain in the knockout stages of the AFC Champions League.
“Nothing is going to be easy for any of the teams from now on. But as a professional side we need to be ready for such situations all the time,” Al Ahli’s assistant coach Catalin Raducan said.
“We’ve done some hard work to assure ourselves of the league title and it would have been better to have the AFC Champions League knockout spot also wrapped up.”
“Fortunately, we’ve got a good bench strength and I hope the substitutes will be up to the task of helping us end the season with all four trophies. The players and the coaching staff have all worked for this and we deserve such a strong finish.”
