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O’Leary praises Al Ahli president
David O’Leary has applauded Al Ahli president Abdullah Saeed Al Naboodah’s decision to throw open their Emirates Challenge Cup encounter with AC Milan to other UAE-based footballers.
The hosts fielded a number of guest players in Sunday night’s 2-1 defeat to the Italian giants, with the Red Knights’ playing personnel resembling more of a national representative squad than a one-club collective.
Such an altruistic gesture was made solely though to allow professionals from across the nation to pit their wits against some world-class stars representing the Rossoneri.
“It wasn’t my team,” O’Leary explained. “We didn’t pick these guests and we were very grateful to their respective clubs for giving us them. It wasn’t our cherry picking and it wasn’t even my idea either.
“The president wanted the UAE — not just Al Ahli, but the whole region — to share in the experience of playing against a great side. He asked clubs to send one player each, so that’s the way that worked. Some of them chose not to, while a lot of others did. He just didn’t want to have it for Al Ahli. He wanted the whole region to share in it, which I thought was very nice of him.”
The Irishman hoped Milan took a lot away from their winter training camp experience, despite seeing Robinho sustain a knee injury and Zlatan Ibrahimovic become embroiled in a heated exchange with the home dugout late on.
“I wouldn’t want to talk about him (Ibrahimovic),” said the former Leeds United and Aston Villa boss, who was aggrieved by the Swede’s tackle on goalscorer Hassan Ali.
“It was a lovely evening and I wouldn’t want a trivial few seconds to ruin it. I hope Milan got what they wanted out of it and that Robinho is alright.
“The main things I look for when I go abroad with my football clubs to places are getting your fitness, staying clear of injuries and getting the people back into play before the league games resume.
“I think Milan achieved that on a nice footballing surface and they’ve had a good training week as well.”
Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri downplayed the severity of Robinho’s injury and the significance of the Ibrahimovic-O’Leary clash.
“He has two injuries, one on the knee and one beneath the knee, and it’s quite a hard knock,” he commented.
“But, hopefully, it won’t be a problem for the game against Cagliari. We will know more about his condition in the next four days.”
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