Speaking in a press conference ahead of his team’s home match against Al Sharjah next Saturday at Round 3 of the Arabian Gulf League, Zlatko Dalić, Al Ain’s Croatian coach, confirmed that his team’s strategy is to take each match separately and as if it was the most important match to play.

Knowing that his rivals have lost their first 2 games, Zlatko believed that Al Sharjah’s offensive line can still pose a serious threat to his team hoping his players would carry on their last excellent performance versus Al Nasr to mitigate Al Sharjah’s threat and to win the coming games.

“With due respect to all our competitors, our intention is to win the three points in each game especially that our starting list is so perfect to beat all with no key player is missing; our ‘international’ Mohamed Fawzi will be on the list after he has recovered from his injury.” He commented.

Asked about Al Sharjah’s merits, Zlatko replied, “Their players can move forward and bounce back fast; their young players are intent to unleash their potential versus the champions of the AGL last edition and potential candidate to win the current edition; besides, their striker, Wanderley Santos, can make a difference, I still remember his two fantastic goals against us in 1st and 2nd Rounds last season.”

Commenting on the fans’ attendance rate which is still lower than expected, Zlatko said, “I think the lower rate is driven by some factors including the hot weather and the match timings; however, I expect greater numbers will come to support the team encouraged by Al Ain’s last tally of 6 points; I’m confident they won’t let their team alone.”