During the assessment press conference for his team’s match against the Saudi Al Hilal, Al Ain Argentine coach, Hernan Crespo, said: I’m fully assured that my team will qualify for the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League Elite, in spite of our loss today, as our opportunity to make up is still present in the remaining five matches in the league stage, particularly after our performance in tonight’s match. Uuntil statistics confirm our official exit from the competition, I’ll tell you that we are unable to qualify.
Crespo expressed his pride of his team’s performance at tonight’s match, emphasizing that: “I believe that all of you agree with me that the game was so interesting and exciting and we were close to making a remontada, but we lacked the luck.
Commenting on a question regarding his team’s defensive problems, he said: “I agree that we conceded five goals in today’s match, but we confronted a powerful offensive team and in return my team has an offensive tendency, so we were also able to score four goals. I always emphasize the idea of teamwork in football, as defense starts with offense and vice versa. We performed greatly and we will definitely work on improving.”
Regarding Soufiane Rahimi’s performance, he explained: “I am proud of his performance as he is developing remarkably and deserves that stardom, and I will continue to support him to play in this position on the pitch.”
