Dubai: Al Ahli’s influential Brazilian playmaker Everton Ribeiro has cautioned his teammates not to fall into complacency after winning a seventh Arabian Gulf League (AGL) crown this season.
Ribeiro scored both goals as the newly-crowned champions were reduced to ten men, but managed to hold on to a point against a technically gifted Bani Yas in Al Ghusais late on Friday.
Signed during the winter window in 2015, this was Ribeiro’s first full season with the Red Knights. Since then, the Brazilian has been provider and scorer for his new club, finding the back of the net on ten occasions on the 44 appearances he has made for Al Ahli so far.
“My focus on the ground is always to give my best for my team. My coach [Cosmin Olaroiu] is the boss and I am here to do what he wants from me, on and off the pitch,” Ribeiro told media late on Friday.
“Now that we have won the league, we need to retain our focus. The league title is just one of the targets we had set out to achieve this season. Our job is far from over. There is still the President’s Cup and we need to bring that home as well,” he added.
He is also being seen as a certain favourite for the ‘Best Foreign Player’ award at the season-ending annual awards ceremony of the UAE Football Association (UAE FA). “If I do get the award then I would think I am a worthy winner,” Ribeiro said.
