Bullish Al Shabab eye automatic Asian Champions League qualification

ABU DHABI // Al Shabab's mission to qualify automatically for the Asian Champions League is in their own hands thanks to their 4-2 win at Al Jazira on Friday, and Carlos Villanueva said they deserve to be in that position.

If Shabab win their final game of the season at home to Al Dhafra next Sunday, they will clinch second place in the Arabian Gulf League.

They leapfrogged Jazira, their rivals for the runner-up position behind champions Al Ain, on Friday, with Villanueva, who came on as a substitute, scoring Shabab’s fourth goal in stoppage time.

“We deserve it,” the Chilean midfielder said. “We are very happy now because we are staying in the second position, but still we have one more game. The good thing is it is in our hands. We just need to win and we will qualify for the Champions League.”

It was a must-win game for Shabab, who trailed Jazira by three points going into the game, and Villanueva said: “We are very happy. We came here trying to win, and we had the chance to make the two goals difference that gave us second place. It was the perfect result, and we got it so the team is very happy for the performance today, for the four goals, and I think we played better than them.”

While finishing second is the main goal for Shabab, there is also the Gulf Clubs Championship on the horizon, with Shabab part of an all AGL semi-final. They have been paired with Al Nasr, last year’s winners, with the first leg at Nasr on Tuesday and the second leg on May 19.

The winners will face either Al Rayyan of Qatar or Oman’s Al Seeb in the final, and Villanueva is confident that Shabab’s victory over Jazira can propel them to become the third successive AGL side to win the competition, following in the footsteps of Nasr last year and Baniyas in 2013.

“Mentally it is very important. It gives confidence for us,” he said of the triumph over Jazira. “We feel also the team that we are strong this year.

“Not like last year, where at the end of the season we were very tired and we didn’t perform so well, but I think the team today we are good and we are strong. We believe that we can do a very good job for the semi-finals, and we will try to do our best because we want to win in the final.”

mashamsi@thenational.ae

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