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Al Ahli must improve in final - Khamis

China.org.cn, November 18, 2015

• Defender Salmin Khamis (right) featured earlier this month as Al Ahli of the United Arab Emirates shared a goalless draw with China's Guangzhou Evergrande in the first leg of the AFC Champions League final.

  Defender Salmin Khamis has called on Al Ahli of the United Arab Emirates to raise their game and produce "a better performance" in order to defeat Chinese champions Guangzhou Evergrande in Saturday's AFC Champions League final second leg at Tianhe Sport Centre Stadium.

  The 24-year-old centre-back, who is now in his third AFC Champions League campaign, has been a virtual ever-present in Al Ahli's historic run to the final after the Emirati side failed to progress beyond the group stage in their four previous attempts.

  Although suspended in the away victory over Uzbekistan's Nasaf on Matchday Four, Khamis returned for the penultimate group tie against Saudi Arabia's Al Ahli and has been a fixture since in the side that edged past domestic rivals Al Ain in the Round of 16, before defeating Iranian debutants Naft Tehran in the quarter-finals and memorably eliminating last year's runners-up Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia in the semi-finals.

  And in the final first leg in Dubai, the former UAE U-22 international once again lined-up alongside regular Korean centre-back partner Kwon Kyung-won as the pair helped Al Ahli secure a potentially vital cleansheet as the two sides shared a goalless draw earlier this month.

  "This is the first time we have reached the final and so we were quite cautious in the first half in Dubai, but in the second period we dominated proceedings but we couldn't score," said Khamis, whose side will be without regular right-back Abdulaziz Haikal for the return fixture after the full-back was sent-off in the closing stages of the first leg.

  "Thing would have been different going into the second leg had we scored, but eventually we still got a good result.

  "However, I hope that we can have a better performance in China and win the AFC Champions League title."

  Denying Guangzhou an away goal does now mean that a score-draw will be enough for Al Ahli to match the achievements of Al Ain, who claimed the Emirates' first and to date only AFC Champions League title in 2003.

  And in the last 12 away ties in the AFC Champions League, six-time UAE champions Al Ahli have been on target in 11 of them, with the 1-0 defeat away at Tractorsazi Tabriz in the group stage in March the only time Cosmin Olaroiu's side have failed to score.

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