The Italian boss was without the services of his four-strong foreign contingent here and duly utilised some fringe squad players returning from injury in order for them to regain confidence and fitness in this peripheral competition.

“It was a good match overall as we were missing five of our major players,” the former Inter Milan goalkeeper said.

“We’re trying to give opportunities to other people – their replacements – to play. It’s a choice for every one of us to play with some players or others.

“I’ve seen many coaches use their regular starting XI, whereas others mix some of those players with others. It’s a choice.

“Every one of us has our own mentality and strategy to follow. I spoke clearly with my club at the start of the season and said to them: ‘I’d prefer to use the Etisalat Cup for all of our local players and pick the players that don’t get a lot of chances.’

“That’s my choice for my club. I think all of the time about my team and concentrate on each player.

“For example, Khalid Ibrahim Mohammed and Abdualla Ahmed Abdualla were in the first XI when I first arrived at Nasr, but they were injured last season.

“There are other players as well like Hassan Mohamed, who is starting to get some chances and believe in himself.”

Elsewhere, Al Jazira rallied from 2-0 down to share the spoils with Ittihad Kalba 2-2; Matias Delgado (86) and Abdulla Qasem (91) netting late on to cancel out earlier efforts from Saoud Faraj Marzouq (21) and Saeed Obaid Saif (79).

Cup holders Al Ahli meanwhile fell to a surprising 3-0 reverse at Dibba Al Fujairah as Luiz Fernando (4 & 39) and Alexssander Medeiros (59) both got on the scoresheet.

alex@khaleejtimes.com