The Garden City club were semifinalists last year and had won the inaugural edition of the event back in 2003.
Al Ain’s ace marksman Asamoah Gyan hoped that they can repeat last year’s showing in the AFC Champions League.
The Garden City club were semifinalists last year and had won the inaugural edition of the event back in 2003. Gyan said that the team was well prepared and ready for this year’s campaign.
Al Ain take on Saudi Arabia’s Al Shabab in their Group B opener at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain on Tuesday night.
“We achieved some good results in last year’s edition and we almost made it to the final. We are looking to repeat that and hopefully we can win it this time. We have prepared well and are ready to face Al Shabab. It is a great incentive for us to do well after what we did last season. We had a strong showing in Asia,” Gyan said on Monday.
But the Ghanian said they would take it step by step. “Our first target would be to do well in the group stages and win maximum points as possible so that we can enter the knockout stage,” he said.
“Apart from the Arabian Gulf League, we also want to do well in Asia. It is important that we start well and get all three points from our first game. We will try and outperform our opponents. As players, it is our responsibility to play well and return with a good result. We owe it to our fans,” he added.