Aguirre heaps praise on Valdivia

Abu Dhabi - Sebastian Tagliabue pulled the strings in midfield throughout the game and gave several anxious moments to the Al Ain defence.

Sebastian Tagliabue may have scored both the goals in Al Wahda's 2-1 win over Al Ain in the Arabian Gulf League, but the star of the night, at the Al Nahyan Stadium, was undoubtedly Jorge Valdivia.
The Chilean playmaker pulled the strings in midfield throughout the game and gave several anxious moments to the Al Ain defence. He also played his part in both of Tagliabue's goals.
And Javier Aguirre, the Al Wahda coach, heaped praise on his star signing.
"Players like Valdivia are the kind who can rise to the big occasion, and tonight, he played a massive role in our victory," said Aguirre.
"He controlled the pace of the game whenever it mattered, made some excellent passes and created the second goal with a brilliant pass. We know how good he is and hope he can continue with the good work," he added.
Aguirre said they stuck to the strategy that they had devised against a strong team like Al Ain.
"Overall we played a good game. Al Ain enjoyed a lot of possession but we struck to a strategy to attack whenever we had the ball. It was a really good performance," said the Mexican.
Aguirre also said that they had played a similar style in their previous games but were unlucky when it came to the result. Al Wahda had gone down by a solitary goal to Al Shabab and were then edged out 3-2 by Al Jazira after clawing back from a two-goal deficit.
"I always choose the best starting XI with the intention of winning every game. We played pretty well in the games we lost to both Al Shabab and Al Jazira. We didn't deserve to lose those two matches," he said.
Meanwhile, Al Ain coach Zlatko Dalic said that they made numerous mistakes but gave credit to Al Wahda.
"We must give credit to Al Wahda for a good game. They marked our players well and made lesser mistakes than us. They are also a good team with some good signings this season," said Dalic.
"In the first half we tried to control and wanted to play a fast game, but we made a defensive mistake to concede an early goal. In the second half, we played a more offensive game but again conceded a second goal and it became hard to get back. We had a few opportunities to score but couldn't and lost a game after a long time. Perhaps, we didn't play well," he said.
"After going down a goal we tried to score quickly. That wasn't the right approach. The players need to be patient and could have bid their time. But this is football," added the Croatian.
james@khaleejtimes.com