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Cosmin: "I have great confidence in my players to make up for absences"

Al Ain head coach Cosmin Olaroiu stressed the importance of his side's AFC Champions League third-round group match against Al Rayyan of Qatar at the Tahnoun bin Mohamed Stadium on Wednesday night. Speaking at his pre-match press conference, the Romanian said: "We respect Al Rayyan and their ambitions to visit us and get a good result. Our last defeat in the competition away at Esteghlal in Iran was a painful one, but I have full confidence in my squad ahead of this game and know that my players can compensate for the absences of the likes of Asamoah Gyan." Cosmin was unable to confirm whether Helal Saeed and the Romanian midfielder Radoi will be fit to feature in the match, and noted that his side will need to be well-balanced to overcome their Qatari opponents.

 

Al Rayyan's manager Diego Aguirre has demanded double the effort from his players in order to register a good result away at Al Ain. "I spoke with the players after we lost our last game in the Qatar Stars League and assured them that we need to forget about the defeat and get this game out of our system, only looking forward to our AFC Champions League match against a very powerful and strong team in Al Ain," the Uruguayan said, adding: "I have full belief in my squad that we will overcome the loss of our previous game." Aguirre also confirmed that he will be without Jaralla Al Marri, Abdulkarim Salim, Abdulla Alawi and the South Korean player Cho-Yong Hyung through injury, and Uruguayan midfielder Alvaro Fernandez is suspended.