Jorge Jesus says Al Hilal have full belief in their ability to overcome a two-goal deficit against Al Ain on Tuesday night and qualify for the Asian Champions League final.
The record four-time winners – runners-up last year – go into the semi-final second leg at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh 4-2 down after Al Ain’s impressive display in the UAE last week.
The result at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium not only represented Hilal’s first defeat in this season’s competition, but it also brought to a close the Saudi Pro League leaders’ 34-match winning streak – a reported world record.
However, speaking on Monday at the official pre-match press conference, manager Jesus said: “It’s the first time that we play a game in the knockout stage with a disadvantage. But, at the same time, we believe in the values that we have in our players and in the presence and support of the fans.
“Still, we trust that we can make the comeback. That’s the will of all the players, the fans and Al Hilal club itself, so we believe that we can make a good comeback and qualify for the final.”
Jesus added: “We believe in what we will be able to do tomorrow, mainly because of how I see the confidence level in the players, in the group, and they have the capacity in which they all believe they can make a good comeback. First of all, to recover the two goals and then to qualify for the final.”
Hilal go into the match without the services of long-term absentee Neymar, but perhaps more crucially, primary frontman Aleksandar Mitrovic. The Serbian international, who has 33 goals in 35 appearances in his debut season with the club, has missed the past five games because of a hamstring issue.
Al Ain will, of course, look to exploit any weaknesses in their Saudi Arabian
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