Dubai: Al Ahli coach Cosmin Olaroiu is extra wary of facing Saudi Arabia’s Al Taawoun at home in the Asian Champions League (ACL) group stages from 8.30pm on Monday as their coach is a fellow Romanian who he knows well.
Olaroiu and Constantin Galca played at rival Bucharest clubs during the early 1990s and both managed Steaua Bucharest at different periods in their career; Cosmin in 2002 and 2006 to 2007 and Galca from 2014 to 2015.
Galca, a former midfielder for Spain’s Espanyol, also played for Steaua from 1991 to 1996 while Cosmin, an ex-defender, was at National Bucharest from 1992 to 1995.
“I know the coach very well and I know how he prepares for matches, so I don’t expect to have an easy game,” said Olaroiu. “His philosophy is always to try and play good attacking football and he refuses to sit back and just defend.
“Even in their last game against Esteghlal, they lost 3-0 but received those goals from set pieces, and actually they had better possession and better consistency on the pitch.
“For me he is one of the best coaches we have in Romania and now I have to consider this. It is more difficult to play against a B team with an A coach than an A team with a B coach.
“But my players will do their best as usual to try and keep us in contention for the next games.”
Al Ahli, the 2015 ACL losing finalists, started their campaign with a 2-1 win at home to Iran’s Esteghlal last month and then followed it up with a 2-0 defeat away to Uzbekistan’s Lokomotiv Tashkent.
All teams are level on three points in Group A, but Al Ahli are third on goal difference ahead of Al Taawoun, who beat Lokomotiv 1-0 at home in their opening game before a 3-0 defeat away to Esteghlal.
This is Taawoun’s first ACL appearance. They finished fourth in the Saudi Premier League last season, which wouldn’t normally be enough to qualify automatically to the ACL group stages. However third-place Al Ittihad were disqualified because they failed to meet the club licencing requirements necessary to compete.
Al Ahli conceded within 18 seconds of their last match against Lokomotiv, which was the second fastest goal in ACL history. Now Olaroiu will be hoping to avoid a repeat of such early lapses in concentration.
“That can happen to all teams as every team is of equal ability,” he said. “We will try to approach with more caution as this could be a very important game for our future in the Champions League.”
Elsewhere on Monday, Al Ain are away to Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli from 9.30pm. Al Ain are second in Group C behind Al Ahli by two points after drawing 1-1 with Iran’s Zob Ahan, and beating Uzbekistan’s Bunyodkor 3-2 away. Al Ahli however, have won both their opening games 2-0 at home to Bunyodkor and 2-1 away to Zob Ahan.
Monday’s ACL Fixtures
Al Ahli UAE — Al Taawoun KSA, 8.30pm
Al Ahli KSA — Al Ain UAE, 9.30pm
