Guangzhou: Cosmin Olaroiu, the Al Ahli coach, has implored his side to have “no regrets” and not waste their “unique moment in life” in Saturday’s Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League final second leg against China’s Guangzhou Evergrande.

The Red Knights held the Chinese giants to a 0-0 draw at the Rashid Stadium in Dubai two weeks ago and are bidding to lift the United Arab Emirates’ first continental title in 12 years at Tianhe Sport Centre Stadium.

A score draw would suffice for the 2014 Arabian Gulf League champions to emulate compatriots Al Ain’s 2003 achievement, when The Boss beat Thailand’s BEC Tero Sasana 2-1 on aggregate.

On Friday, Olaroiu gave a rousing rallying cry to his charges, saying: “This is a unique moment in life and nobody knows when the next chance will be to make a final like this. So we have all the motivation the world and we will do our best. We want to have no regrets in the future that we did not give our best.”

Olaroiu, who was appointed Al Ahli coach in July 2013 after spells at Al Ain, Qatar’s Al Sadd and Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia, will be without defender Abdul Aziz Haikal for the game after his sending-off in the first leg.

The Red Knights head to China high on confidence after their superb form domestically and on the continent.

Al Ahli last suffered defeat at the start of June to Al Nasr in a penalty shoot-out in the President’s Cup final, and are unbeaten inside 90 minutes in the last 20 games, with their last reversal coming in early May in the Arabian Gulf League to Bani Yas.

“After the first game was a goalless draw we have to think of the final on Saturday as one game. To win the trophy we have to score,” said Olaroiu.

“We have tried to prepare the team to play in a way that we can get the trophy, we will play better than in the first leg to get exactly what we need.”

Meanwhile, Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Guangzhou Evergrande coach, insists his side must show a marked improvement on their first-leg showing if the Chinese Super League side are to claim the continental title for a second time in three years.

“We hope that we can play better than we did in the previous leg. If we can, then Saturday’s game will not be such a challenge for us, but if we play the same or worse then we will certainly have problems,” said Scolari, who has yet to taste defeat since replacing Fabio Cannavaro as Guangzhou coach in June.

The Brazilian does, however, have an injury concern over the AFC Champions League’s leading scorer with eight goals, the Brazilian Ricardo Goulart, who was withdrawn just before the hour mark in Dubai.

Goulart aside, Scolari has reported a clean bill of health, despite six Guangzhou players featuring for China in their goalless draw with Hong Kong in Tuesday’s joint 2018 Fifa World Cup and 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifier.

“After those players returned from Hong Kong, I had a simple conversation with those players which was to concentrate their mind on Guangzhou Evergrande, because Guangzhou Evergrande’s future is my priority,” added Scolari, who will be looking to add to a trophy cabinet that includes the 1990 Gulf Cup, 2002 Fifa World Cup, 2013 Fifa Confederations Cup and two Copa Libertadores titles.

The game kicks off at 4pm UAE time and will be telecast on beIN Sports 7.