Al Ain hope for rub of the green

Al Ain will be hoping upon hope that they have the rub of the green when they host Qatar’s Lekhwiya at their new home — the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium — in their opening Group C fixture of the AFC Champions League on Wednesday night.

Nothing has gone right for the Garden City club this season, with their title defence of the Arabian Gulf League, as good as over. Their coach Quique Sanchez Flores is under increasing pressure with rumours doing the rounds that this could be the Spaniard’s last game in charge. The Al Ain Board had called an emergency meeting ahead of this fixture and it is being said that the club have already lined-up a replacement.

Al Ain come into this game on the back of two losses — to Al Wahda and Al Nasr and are languishing eighth in the League table.

Flores will be hoping their new venue will bring some much-needed luck. Al Ain, the inaugural AFC Champions League winners, have played two games at the Hazza bin Zayed — a draw against Al Dhafrah and a loss to Al Wahda.

But Flores said it will be a tough challenge. “We have looked at all the possibilities in our match against Lekhwiya, who could play with a defensive formation in order to get a positive result away from home,” Flores said on the eve of the game.

Al Ain will be without the Abdulrahman brothers — Omar and Khaled.

Meanwhile, Lekhwiya go into the game on the back of a 1-1 draw in the Qatar Stars League with Al Wakra. Their coach Eric Gerets said that they will miss the services of the suspended Luis Junior, who picked up a second yellow card in the playoff win over Kuwait SC. Dame Traore is doubtful due to injury.The kick-off is at 8pm.