In the first round of the AFC Champions League play-offs, Saudi Arabia's Ainas host UAE side Al-Shabaab Al-Ali in the first leg of the AFC Champions League play-offs. This is the first time that Portugal's C Ronaldo makes his AFC Champions League debut in the tournament and attracts the world's attention. However, Al-Shabaab Al-Ali are no slouches, having made it to the last 16 of the AFC Champions League last season, and have a good chance of taking on the unrefined Ainas, who are favored to win by 2 goals. (Wednesday 1.20am kick-off)
Ainas have built a star-studded squad in the pre-season and are the favorites to win the AFC Champions League after winning the Arabian Clubs Champions League this month. Before they start their AFC Champions League journey, they have reportedly signed Manchester City midfielder Napoli and Porto midfielder Odavio Emerson for a total of 90 million euros (HK$766 million), making their determination to sweep both the league and AFC Champions League titles quite obvious.
Although the Golden Diamond's lineup of Cron, Sardiovanni, Posovic, Alex Dinis, and Scott Fenner is quite impressive, it will take time for too many new players to gel, and the fact that Ainas has lost two league matches in the beginning of the season proves that the team has a lot of room for improvement.
