Off the wire
• Urgent: Suicide bombing kills 4, injures 12 in Iraq's Baghdad  • IFRC calls for refugees protection as freezing weather set to sweep Europe  • News Analysis: China's innovation, opening-up boosts global economic recovery  • Major news items in leading German newspapers  • Iceland's wage index records 0.3 pct increase in Oct.  • 1st LD: Chinese premier arrives in Malaysia for East Asian leaders' meetings, official visit  • Russian parliament demands tougher anti-terrorist measures  • ADB's 1.4 bln USD financing to help Pakistan resolve power crisis  • Interview: "Belt and Road" initiative, AIIB to complement ASEAN Community Vision 2025: Malaysian FM  • Chinese man executed for killing demolition workers  
You are here: 　 Home

Scolari hopes to embrace AFC Champions League title

Xinhua, November 20, 2015 Adjust font size:

Guangzhou Evergrande's head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari on Friday expressed his bid to bring the Chinese Super League champions to the top podium of the AFC Champions League for the second time.

   Guangzhou Evergrande had ever taken the AFC Champions League title in 2013 under the rein of Italian legendary coach Marcello Lippi. And Scolari, who steered the Selecao to the World Cup title in 2002, expected to welcome his first champion in the Asian Champions League.

   "Our preparations are quite well. I hope all my players could show their scintillating form and reap the best result," said Scolari here at the press briefing before Saturday's second leg of the final against Al Ahli Dubai FC.

   The two finalists had drawn 0-0 in their first leg in Dubai.

   Evergrande's top striker Goulart from Brazil limped off with injury in the first leg and became the only doubt for the Evergrande side. "All of us are waiting for Goulart's return," Scolari said.

   Scolari said: "I just came to China and experienced my first final journey in the Asian Champions League campaign. All the continental finals are very important to me. I hope that it can be my next trophy, and I believe my players."

   He added: "I have great players who have great dreams. I feel good to cooperate with them, and they deserve to step on the final stage."

   Evergrande's captain Zheng Zhi shared the same opinion, saying, "Victory is significant for our team, Guangzhou or Chinese football. The 0-0 tie in the first leg was a fair result for both teams. I hope we can win in Guangzhou."

   Many players of Evergrande played for the Chinese national team in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Asian Zone qualifying tournament three days ago, but Zheng, the candidate of "Asian Footballer of the Year" thought that it was not a problem for his teammates.

   "We have prepared very well, and the stamina matters nothing to us," said Zheng, who was also the skipper of the national team.

   "We do have pressure ahead of such an important game, but we have experienced a lot of finals, and we know how to tackle with this situation. I believe we will be the winners," said Zheng.

   Ahli's coach Cosmin Olaroiu said at the briefing, "If we want to win, we have to score. Guangzhou Evergrande have home advantage which means they will have plenty of supporters, but we are aware of what we should do. We will have a better performance than the first leg."  Endi