El Jaish coach in awe of Al Ain midfilder Omar
al ain — El Jaish coach Sambri Lamouchi is so impressed with Omar Abdulrahman that he termed the Al Ain mainstay as the ‘best player in Asia’.
“Al Ain have absolutely the best player in Asia. He made the difference,” Lamouchi said while congratulating Al Ain for 3-1 victory in the first leg of the AFC Champions League semis.
“He is an unbelievable player. I love him a lot, but it’s not only me. All the coaches want a player like him because he fights with heart, and he is also a very nice playmaker with an amazing left foot,” he said about the Man of the Match ‘Amoory’.
Lamouchi couldn’t stop raving about the player who scored one and assisted in the other two goals on Tuesday night at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium.
Reflecting on the game, he said they face an uphill task to qualify to the finals. “It’s going to be really difficult now as scoring two goals against this team is not easy,” he told at the Press conference.
However, he said that apart from the first 20 minutes, the secondhalf have so many national players.”
On the return leg, he said: “This will be a big and good challenge. We will play for victory.”
Meanwhile, Al Ain coach Zlatko Dalic said it was a good result for the team.
“El Jaish have a very strong team, but we scored a third goal. The first half was great for our side. We did everything what we wanted to do in the middle. We scored two goals and we had a great result.”
But he insisted that the job was not over yet.
“We have just finished the first half and everything is open for the second half in Doha. I am happy with my players.”
He also revealed that Ibrahim Diaky, Mohammed Fayez, Saeed Al Katheeri were all injured and hence were not part of the scheme of things. “In one month, when we play the second game, we will be more ready,” he added.
ashwani@khaleejtimes.com